Last Name
by fallinrain
Summary: Kelsi learns that some people just shouldn't have alcohol - and that she is one of those people. Ryelsi, with a lot of Zekepay and glimpses of other canon couples. Genre may change.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer for the entire story: I own nothing.**

**A/N: Okay,I recently had someone volunteer to go through my stories do some (a lot so far, actually) editing. I then go back through them and fix things that needed to be fixed. I forgot to ask if they wanted to be credited personally or not so far the time being I'll just say that they are absolutely wonderful and I really, really appreciate them for taking the time to comb through and look for mistakes. I'm going to be swapping out old chapters with the edited ones as we go along, though I assure you that as the reader nothing is changing plot-wise. The biggest issues are grammar related though some lines/phrases have been reworked to sound better, but still everything is the same in terms of the story. :)  
**

**This story was inspired by the song "Last Name" by Carrie Underwood (which I also don't own...shocking, right?). As usual, Ryelsi is the main focus but this story will also feature a Zekepay subplot so there'll be a lot more of them. Take place when they're all about 25 years old.**

**A few things to know about the couples/relationship statuses at the start of the story:**

**Troy and Gabriella stayed together after high school and are now getting married just outside of Las Vegas.  
**

**Chad and Taylor have had a sort of on-again/off-again relationship since high school, but are a couple at this point.**

**Jason and Martha went to the prom together, but broke up before going to college. Ended up back together a couple of years later and have since gotten married.  
**

**Zeke and Sharpay started dating after prom and stayed together through part of college, thus pulling Sharpay more into the group as a whole. Sharpay ended up breaking up with him for reasons you'll find out later, but has come to regret it. Both of them have plans to try and win the other back over the course of the week. Neither of them has any idea that the other one wants them back. **

**Ryan and Kelsi's story is a lot like Zeke and Sharpay's: started dating after prom and stayed together through part of college until Kelsi broke his heart by ending it for reasons you'll find out in this chapter (hence the angst). This will be the first time the two of them have seen each other since she broke up with him five years prior to the start of this story. Ryan has a lot of questions and Kelsi has a lot to answer for. And that was before she goes and does something really stupid that makes the entire situation much more complicated for both of them. Lots of drama ahead for our favorite couple, though it won't all be angst & drama - they'll be humor and lightness too. Let me know what you think!**

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The headache Kelsi Nielsen was currently experiencing was without question the worst headache she had ever had in her entire life. It felt as if there was a team of people in her head with jackhammers digging into her skull. The pain had hit her as she was waking up, and she had instantly squeezed her eyes shut again because the light in the room intensified the pain. She pressed her hands to her face and rolled over as she cautiously lifted one eyelid to peek out at the room between her fingers, and then forced herself to lower her hands and open her eyes all the way. Her glasses were on the bedside table, so she grabbed them and slipped them on. The next thing she noticed was that this hotel room was definitely not the one she had checked in the day before. Confusion mixed in with the pain in her head as she slowly sat up to look around. The room itself looked very similar to hers – all of the furniture was exactly the same. But there was one major difference: if this had been her hotel room, the windows would have been to the right of the bed. Here the windows were to the left. Her brow furrowed as she continued her search of the room noting, in relief that her purse was lying on the floor near the door. She turned her head towards the other side of the room and bit back a scream. Wherever she was, she was not alone. There, lying on the other side of the large bed was a human shaped lump. The blankets covered him completely so she couldn't tell who it was, though she was quite certain that it was a man. Horrified, she brought her hands back up to massage her aching forehead, and in the process noticed something that made her freeze.

She slowly lowered her hands and as she studied them, her heart started beating in double time. There was a ring on her finger that she had never seen before. That in and of itself would have been disconcerting, but it wasn't so much the ring itself that was causing her heart to pound as hard as it was. Instead, it was the placement of said ring: the ring finger of her left hand. As she gaped at it in horror, she forced herself to try to remember what had happened yesterday. Her memory seemed a little fuzzy, so she started with what she knew to be true. Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez, after having dated for seven years, were finally getting married. The wedding itself would take place on the upcoming Sunday at a beautiful chapel on the outskirts of Las Vegas. Yesterday had been Monday and all of the other activities, such as the rehearsal dinner, would be starting Friday evening. Troy and Gabriella had decided that they wanted to fly out all of their high school friends to Vegas a few days before in celebration of the upcoming nuptials. They thought it would be fun for everyone to catch up and let loose before the families started arriving. It was bound to be a week that none of them would ever forget.

But in all honesty, Kelsi hadn't been sure she wanted to go, and almost turned down the invitation. She had planned to just go for the wedding itself, but Gabriella had called and practically begged her to spend the week with them. Kelsi had been unable to say no and had agreed to go, much to Gabriella's delight. It wasn't that she didn't want to see her friends. They had all kept in touch after high school, but had slowly drifted apart as they all started their individual careers. Kelsi still talked to most of them on the phone occasionally and had even seen a few of them over the years, but it wasn't the same. Kelsi often found herself missing the way they used to be. Apparently, so had Troy and Gabriella. Now that they were getting married, they'd had an almost desperate urge to reconnect with their old friends. To try and form new bonds that would rejuvenate their friendships. Kelsi hadn't known just how much she had missed all of them until she had seen them at the hotel the day before. No...it wasn't that she hadn't wanted to see her friends. Rather, the reason for her indecision was fear of seeing one person in particular: Ryan Evans.

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The two of them had started dating their senior year of high school after Ryan had asked her to go to prom with him. That day had been one of the happiest days of her entire life. She'd had a crush on Ryan Evans from the very first time she had seen him - which had been two years prior to him asking her to prom. It hadn't taken long before she had gone from simply having a crush on him to being hopelessly in love with him. When they had both won scholarships to Juilliard, she had been thrilled. At first anyway. It wasn't that things started getting bad between them or anything like that. On the contrary, things had been wonderful. She had fallen for him a little more every day, and vice versa. He had been everything she had ever wanted in a boyfriend, and then some. She knew he had been planning on asking her to marry him. He had even bought a ring. He had been fully committed to the idea of spending the rest of his life with her, and for most girls this would have been a cause for celebration.

Kelsi had never been like most girls. She had been happy with Ryan, blissfully happy even, but had fallen victim to a curse that plagued the women in her family. You see, Kelsi came from a long line of leavers, as she called them. From her great-grandmother, to her maternal grandmother, to her mother...all of them had loved and married the boys of their dreams. Boys that all of them had eventually walked out on. Kelsi hadn't known her great-grandmother at all and barely remembered her grandmother, but she did remember her mother. She doubted that any man had ever loved any woman as much as her father had loved her mother. How much he loved her still, even though it had been almost twenty years since she had left. Kelsi had been five years old when her mother had walked out on them. She had been old enough to understand that her mommy was gone, but too young to understand why. Her father had been completely heartbroken by his wife leaving though Kelsi wasn't sure that _heartbroken_ was a strong enough word to describe the agony her father had been through. Her mother had left her father a broken and devastated man who had been so hurt by her leaving that he had seriously debated leaving Kelsi with his parents and taking his own life. He had been convinced that he would rather die than live without his wife. He'd even had a plan of how he was going to do it.

But something had changed. He had gone to drop Kelsi off with her grandparents and as he was leaving, Kelsi had suddenly launched herself at him, crying hysterically. She had no idea what his plan had been, but even so, she had begged him not to leave. According to her father, she had looked up at him with those big eyes of hers and pleaded with him not to leave because she loved him. And just like that, he had known that he couldn't go through with his plan. He would find some way to go on with his life, if only for the sake of his precious little girl. The only remnant of his wife that he had left. He had devoted himself to the care of his daughter from that point on, though he had never been the same. Kelsi knew that even though time had healed some of his wounds, her mother had hurt him so badly that there were a couple of them that were still bleeding. Even after almost twenty years. The worst thing about all of this was the fact that her mother had loved her father once. That she had not only loved him but had been desperately in love with him. But she had never wanted to be a mother. It was the same with the women in her family who came before her. All of them had started out being hopelessly in love, and had remained that way until they'd had their daughters. That seemed to be the catalyst that set off their desire to flee. And flee they all did, leaving the men behind them with two things and two things only: a beautiful little daughter, and a broken heart.

Kelsi knew the history of that side of her family well and when she had first started dating Ryan, she had vowed that she would never be like them. She knew that if he had asked her to marry him that she would have said yes. There would have been a wedding and there would have been a child – Ryan wanted children – and Kelsi would have done exactly what the women before her had. She knew she was destined to be a leaver, but in her mind it would be better to leave before wedding vows were made. She had broken up with him, much to his hurt and confusion. He had fought for their relationship, knowing that they loved each other. She had known that if she had stayed in New York that he would've convinced her that they should get back together. And if they had, she knew she would've ended up marrying him. So she had done what she hadn't wanted to do: she had deliberately broken his heart. She had been cruel and heartless, two things that she was not, and she had done it on purpose. It was the only way she could think of to get him to let her go. She had hopped on a plane the next day before he had time to recover. Because he would and once he did, he would fight for her again because he knew that she hadn't been herself. It had been the single hardest thing she had ever done and, though it had been years, she still had to fight the urge to go to him and try and win him back. That had been why she had been hesitant to attend this week with her friends. It would be the first time that she would see him in five years and she was scared, because as much as she tried to deny it to everyone, mostly herself, the truth was that she was still hopelessly in love with him. She was worried that she would lose her resolve and do everything in her power to try to win him back, and it would take every ounce of strength she possessed to resist.

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The memories of what she had done to Ryan were so painful, that she forced them out of her mind and tried once more to focus on what had happened the day before. After all, she had to figure out what had happened to cause this ring to mysteriously appear on her finger. She remembered meeting everyone in the lobby, remembered how her heart had jumped in her chest at her first glimpse of Ryan. The moment her eyes had found his, everything else in the room had faded away. In his eyes she had seen questions and pain, so much pain, among other intense emotions. The emotion that had stood out the most, much to her surprise, was love. Even after all these years and what she had done. That right there had almost made her go running across the room and into his arms. But it had lasted for only a few seconds, as his eyes had quickly become guarded – almost as if he was deliberately putting up some sort of barrier designed to shut her out. Gabriella had picked that exact moment to bounce over to Kelsi and hug her, which had been just the distraction Kelsi had needed. There had then been a flurry of commotion as hugs were exchanged and plans were made. It was there that she had found herself talking with Zeke, who after having had his own heart broken by Sharpay, was determined to try and win the blonde back on this trip. Kelsi was stunned to realize that she had more in common with Sharpay than she had ever realized. Both of them had hurt the men that they had loved, though Kelsi couldn't even begin to understand what Sharpay's reasoning could have been.

In any event, it had soon been decided that they would spend the evening checking out the Las Vegas nightlife and hitting a few of the clubs. They had broken off into two groups upon reaching the first club, with the guys going one way, and the girls going another. Sharpay had bought them all a round of drinks. Kelsi winced. That had been the start of the trouble. Kelsi wasn't a drinker, not by any means. She'd had alcohol before, but didn't really care for it. As a result, she basically didn't drink at all and had never been close to being drunk. So she had naturally turned down the shot when Sharpay had ordered it. The blonde girl had merely rolled her eyes and insisted that one little shot wouldn't do any harm and that this was a celebration. Kelsi had sighed and reluctantly taken the shot, which had burned a path from her lips to her stomach. Somewhere along the way a second round of drinks had been ordered, also by Sharpay if Kelsi remembered correctly. It had all been downhill at that point. Sharpay had seemed intent on getting all of them drunk and Kelsi, being a nondrinker and also a small person, had gotten there pretty quickly.

Kelsi shut her eyes as images of being on a dance floor with some guy she didn't even know came to mind. He had come up to her with a "Hey cutie, where ya from?" and that had been it. She remembered noticing Ryan watching her, a look of disapproval on his face that had annoyed her. So she had kept dancing with the guy, who eventually turned into another one and another one. She had definitely gone a little crazy last night, and it was at that point that her memory really started getting hazy. She winced again, knowing how ashamed her father would be if he knew about it. Ryan kept popping up in her thoughts and she frowned, trying to figure out what that meant. She fixed her gaze on the ring, willing it to give her some kind of clue. It was at that point that her thoughts drifted towards Elvis Presley of all things. She furrowed her brow as images of some sort of chapel came to mind. Images of being in a wedding chapel with Elvis and some other person she couldn't quite identify. She vaguely remembered trying to sign some sort of piece of paper, and giggling because it was hard to write.

Kelsi closed her eyes again and wondered what in the world she had done. She climbed out of the bed, ignoring her still raging headache – no doubt proof of her first hangover. It was then that she realized that, aside from missing her jacket and her shoes, she was still wearing what she had been the night before. Thank goodness for small miracles, she thought as she stumbled towards her purse to dig out her cell phone, anxious to talk to someone she knew.

Slipping into the bathroom, she managed to dial Martha's cell phone.

"'Lo?" a sleepy voice answered.

"Jason?" Kelsi massaged her forehead as she tried to remain calm enough to speak. "Is Martha there?"

"Ya," was the short answer. Jason was apparently not a morning person, Kelsi decided.

"Kelsi?"

"Hi Martha...um...I...well I have a problem..."

"What's the matter?" Martha asked, sounding tired.

"Well...are you sitting down?"

"Lying down, actually," Martha yawned.

"Good that's good...I um...well I guess I better just come out and say it...this is so bad..." Kelsi shook her head. Regretted it half a second later as doing so seemed to make the pain in her head worse.

"Kelsi, what's wrong?" Martha wanted to know. Her voice had shifted from sounding tired to sounding worried.

"It's really bad," Kelsi whispered. "I don't think I can say it..."

"Come on Kelsi," Martha encouraged her, "it can't be all that bad. Just start at the beginning."

"Well...you know how we all went out drinking last night?" Kelsi let out a huff. "I think I'm officially hung over. My head feels like there's a bunch of tiny jackhammers going off inside of it."

"That's why I stopped after two shots," Martha sympathized. "Drink plenty of water, get some food and take some aspirin. That'll help."

"Well thanks for that, but...that's not why I called..."

"Oh," Martha responded, surprised. "Then what?"

"I woke up and noticed that the room I'm in isn't the one I checked into yesterday...I think it's the same hotel. I keep having images of Elvis and a wedding chapel..." Kelsi started.

"You...what?" Martha sounded completely shocked.

"And there's kind of another person in the bed and I...well I have a ring on my left hand and well..." Kelsi took a breath. "I think I might've gotten married."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who read, reviewed or put this on alert! Fast update to a kind of short chapter. I almost added a shorter version of this to the last chapter, but thought it was better to leave that one at a cliffhanger to make you wonder who Kelsi married. The good news is that you don't have to wonder any longer as you'll find out in this chapter. ****I have more to comment on here, but going to add that at the end.**

* * *

A pause followed that statement and Kelsi winced, trying to imagine what her friend must be thinking and wondering how she was going to respond. She didn't have to wonder for long.

"You WHAT?!" Martha yelled, causing Kelsi to nearly drop the phone. "You think you're WHAT?"

"Oh please don't yell," Kelsi begged. "My head really hurts."

"Sorry," Martha apologized. "I just...when a good friend of mine...a single friend at that...wakes me up to inform me that she thinks she's married, I freak out!"

"How do you think I feel!?" Kelsi exclaimed. "My dad would kill me if he knew what happened last night!"

"What _did_ happen last night?" Martha asked.

"That's what I want to know! I remember bits and pieces, but not enough to get the whole picture," Kelsi let out a mournful sigh. "Remind me to kill Sharpay later. This is all her fault!"

"I can't believe I'm defending Sharpay, but she only bought the first two rounds…" Martha started.

"Then who got the next one?" Kelsi wanted to know.

"Believe it or not, Gabriella," Martha informed her.

"What?" It was Kelsi's turn to be surprised.

"Gabriella handles alcohol about as well as you do, it seems. It started affecting her early and she liked the feeling and ordered another round," Martha paused. "Of course later on she spent a good amount of the night in the bathroom throwing up, so my guess is that she's going to want to avoid shots for a while."

"Help me out here Martha," Kelsi said, sinking down to sit on the toilet seat so she could rest her arm on the sink to prop up her aching head. "What do _you_ remember about last night?"

"Let's see…you, Sharpay, and Gabriella all had the third round of shots while Taylor and I didn't. I think it was at that point that a random dude came over with that lame line about where you were from, and you left to dance with him," Martha made a sound to indicate disgust. "You must have been feeling those shots pretty bad since you actually danced with him because that guy was pretty creepy. We tried to keep an eye on you, but it was hard to. I know I saw him buy you another drink." Martha hesitated for a moment. "And then…well…I guess he must have tried something, because we saw you try to swat him away. He didn't want to leave you alone, it seemed, so Taylor and I got up to try and get to you, only we couldn't…thank goodness for Ryan. He must have been watching you too, because he got involved."

"He did?" Kelsi asked, shocked at this revelation.

"He did," Martha confirmed. "He totally got that creep away from you."

"And then what?"

"The creep left and it looked like Ryan snapped at you for some reason…my guess would be because you voluntarily started dancing with said creep in the first place. You got mad and more or less stormed away from him…well, as much as you could storm since you looked pretty unsteady. Another guy came up to you and you went to dance with him…giving Ryan an uncharacteristically dirty look in the process, I might add. But then Gabriella got sick so we had to get her to the bathroom. By the time we came back, we had lost track of you. We talked to the bouncer, who remembered seeing you leave with someone he thought had been in our group, so we figured one of the guys took you back to the hotel. Oddly enough, Ryan seemed to disappear around the same time."

"Weird," Kelsi frowned. Several moments passed by in silence.

"Um Kelsi…" Martha said suddenly. "Not to change the subject but I have to ask…"

"What?"

"Who's the guy?" Martha's voice seemed to get smaller as she asked.

"What guy?" Kelsi asked, confused.

"The guy you're kind of married to. Remember him?" Martha asked, somewhat sarcastically. "Who is it?" Kelsi paused.

"I don't know," she admitted. "I didn't look."

"Don't you think you should?" Martha pressed and Kelsi knew she was trying her best to stay calm.

"I guess?"

"Kelsi...you're a married woman now most likely. Don't you think you ought to find out who you're married to?!" Martha exclaimed. Kelsi let out a gasp.

"Oh my God! I'm married to someone and I don't even know their name!" She let out another gasp. "Martha!"

"What?"

"I don't know what MY last name is either now!" Kelsi let out a laugh that was just short of hysterical. "Forget his name, I don't know even know my own last name! This is bad!"

"Just a little," Martha said calmly.

"Just a little," Kelsi repeated. "Just a little?!"

"Okay a lot!" Martha corrected. "What else do _you_ remember?"

"Well," Kelsi closed her eyes as she tried to think. "I sort of remember dancing with those random guys and for some reason I keep picturing Ryan too. But aside from that…it's just those flashes of Elvis and that chapel and signing some sort of piece of paper…Not sure why Ryan keeps coming to mind." It was Martha's turn to gasp.

"Oh my God!" she cried.

"What?"

"I bet it's Ryan!" Kelsi froze.

"That...I...no," she stammered.

"If it's not Ryan, why do you keep thinking about him?"

"No...it can't be...I...I...me and Ryan..."

"Disappeared from the club at around the same time," Martha reminded her.

"No," Kelsi shook her head, again regretting it about a second later. "That's doesn't mean we got married! No…I'm positive it's not him…me and him," she started.

"Should have gotten married years ago," Martha cut in, gently, "Look Kelsi, I know what your reasoning was when you broke up with him, but it was wrong. You guys loved each other...still do, in fact. I saw the way you looked at each other yesterday. Maybe...maybe this happened for a reason. Maybe this is fate's way of getting you two back together."

"No," Kelsi whispered. "No...it can't be Ryan." She paused. "Oh God...Martha...what am I going to do?" Kelsi asked. "If it's Ryan...oh God, if it's Ryan...I broke his heart...I can't..." she trailed off.

"Better Ryan than some random guy," Martha pointed out. "Either way you have to find out who it is."

"You're right," Kelsi admitted, softly. She eased out of the bathroom, noting that whoever it was in the bed still had the covers over his head. She scanned the room, noticing a piece of paper on the dresser. Her heart sank to her knees and she bit back another scream as she realized what it was. "Oh my gosh."

"What?"

"A marriage license," she whispered. She looked over and found her signature. It was a drunken, messier version, but it was her signature all the same. "Oh my God. There it is...my signature...oh my God."

"Well..." Kelsi heard Martha take a breath. "What's the other name on it?" Kelsi picked up the piece of paper to examine it, but the other signature was too messed up to read.

"I can't make it out," she said after a moment. It was at that moment when she sensed movement behind her. "Oh my gosh," she whispered.

"What?"

"I think he's waking up," Kelsi hissed into the phone. Several seconds passed and she waited, too terrified to turn around.

"Kelsi?" She froze at the voice. It hadn't been Martha who had spoken. Rather it was the person on the bed behind her. His voice sounded a little scratchy, almost as if he had a sore throat. "What's going on?" He let out a cough, as he tried to clear his throat.

"Oh my gosh," Kelsi whispered.

"What?"

"I haven't looked yet but...he knows my name," she said softly.

"Is it Ryan?"

"The voice did sound familiar." Kelsi winced. "This is bad...this is so bad."

"Kelsi?" There was that voice again.

"Kelsi?" Martha spoke up, her voice small. "I think you have to look..."

"Okay," Kelsi whispered, squeezing her eyes shut as she turned around. She took a deep breath and then slowly opened her eyes...and promptly let out the scream that she had been holding back ever since she had first woken up. "Oh my God!"

"What? Who is it?!" Martha asked, sounding panicked.

"Kelsi?" the man Kelsi was looking at spoke up, sounding completely confused. "What are you doing in my room? What happened?"

"Oh my God," Kelsi repeated, this time at a whisper. "Zeke?!"

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**Show of hands...did anyone here see _that _coming? I guess I failed to mention that Zekepay's little subplot ties directly into Ryelsi's, huh? ;)**

**Now before you throw virtual tomatoes at me I want to make a couple of promises to all of you:**

**1. Please note from the last chapter that Kelsi was still basically wearing what she had been the night before. Zeke and Kelsi may have slept next to each other in the same bed, but nothing happened. At worst there might have been a couple of kisses while drunk but that's it.**

**2. This is still a Ryelsi and Zekepay story. Not a Zelsi one. At least not a romantic Zelsi one - in other words, they will _not_ be falling for each other. Period. Of course, them being married is definitely going to complicate things a bit. To say the least. Things are about to get really interesting for all four of them. **

**Reviews are always welcome! For any and all of my stories, though I gotta say I am really interested to see how you all react to this chapter. Let me know!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: It's a little strange to be writing this and Love Profound at the same time since they're so different. I have to completely change gears when I switch from one to the other, but it's fun. So, ****Kelsi up and married Zeke - some of you thought it might be him while others of you were completely surprised which was great. We got Kelsi's reaction in the last chapter. Now it's time to see what Zeke has to say about it. Fun scene to write, I gotta say. Actually the whole chapter was fun to write so I hope you all like it. Let me know! **

**On a sidenote,I try to respond to every review but can't if it's anonymous, so here's a special shoutout to JdF, who has reviewed me a couple of times on a couple of my stories. Thanks! I really appreciate all of you for taking the time to read the story in the first place, let alone to take the time to review too. ****:) **

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"Kelsi?" Zeke repeated her name at the same time Kelsi heard Martha scream his. "What in the world is going on?"

"Kelsi? What are you going to do?" Martha asked.

"Give me a minute to think!" Kelsi exclaimed, gaping at Zeke in absolute horror. "I guess I should call you back, Martha, and talk to Zeke."

"You are calling me as soon as you guys are done talking, okay?" Martha pleaded. "I gotta know what happens! Geez Kelsi...this is like a soap opera!"

"Try living it and see how you feel," Kelsi mumbled, hanging up without saying goodbye. In the back of her mind she made a mental note to apologize to Martha later on. At the moment, there were more pressing issues to deal with - like telling a good friend of hers that they were now married. The mere thought of the truth made her feel a little dizzy, so she grabbed hold of a chair that was mercifully close by and sank into it, keeping her eyes on him while doing so. "You....I....you...I..." she stammered. It was hard figuring out the best way to break this sort of news, she decided, as she opened and closed her mouth several times. She pointed at his left hand, trying not to faint at the sight of the ring on it. "You might want to look at your left hand," she managed.

"Um...okay?" he said, clearly confused by this request. He obediently lifted his left hand and his eyes immediately widened in shock. "What the heck is that?!"

"Well Zeke," she said softly. "That is what they call a...," she gulped," a wedding ring." She slowly lifted her own left hand. "And well...we sort of match." At the sight of the ring on her finger, his eyes widened comically and his jaw dropped, making him look a little bit like a cartoon. The memory of this look would no doubt make Kelsi laugh later on, but for now it was all she could do to remember how to breathe.

"Kelsi...why...you...I..." he gestured wildly between his ring and hers, looking more panicked by the second. "Are we...." he trailed off, too petrified to finish the question. She reached for the marriage license and wordlessly handed it over to him.

"Does that answer your question?" she whispered.

"Holy crap," he muttered. "We're...we're married!?"

"It would appear so," she answered.

"How?" He looked back and forth between the marriage license and her. "How did this happen!?"

"Heck if I know! Sharpay bought us all a round of shots...I had one...which turned into another...and later another..." she shook her head. "I guess I got drunk pretty fast, some guy asked me to dance, Ryan somehow saved me, another dude asked me to dance and then apparently I disappeared! All of this according to Martha, by the way. All I can remember is bits and pieces of the chapel and Elvis...what about you? I was drunk, but what about you?!"

"I..." Zeke gave her an apologetic look. "I was drunk too, I guess. Sharpay just..." he trailed off and Kelsi noticed how his face seemed to tighten at mention of Sharpay.

"Sharpay what?" Kelsi asked.

"I don't know what got into her last night," he started. "But I was watching her throughout the night and it seemed like every time I looked over at her she was dancing with a different guy. If you can call what she was doing dancing, that is. It just," he paused, his jaw clenching, "It made me really, really mad because that's not like her at all. I don't know if she was trying to get to me or not but it worked. So I got a drink. We had already had a few beers by that point, but I wanted something stronger. I figured it would help take the edge off and keep me from literally going over and ripping the head off of whichever guy she was dancing with at the time," he sighed. "One drink led to another one and well..." He lifted his hands up and then dropped them as if to indicate that she knew the rest of the story. "I kind of remember a chapel with an Elvis, but it's all pretty fuzzy. And now..."

"And now," Kelsi continued. "We're married." She let out a laugh that was bordering on hysterical. "We're married! This is really bad."

"Tell me about it," he said, letting out a huff. "This is totally going to put a damper on my whole getting back together with Sharpay thing!"

"Ya think!?" she cried. "How do you think I feel? I wake up this morning, hung over and married to _you_!"

"Now wait just a second," he protested. "What's with the tone?"

"What tone?"

"The married to _you_," he said, using the same amount of disdain in the word 'you' that she had. "You could've done a lot worse, you know."

"Oh honestly," she muttered.

"What? I realize this situation is less than ideal, but come on. The tone was entirely unnecessary," he huffed in annoyance.

"We wake up and find out we're married," she let out a short laugh devoid of humor, "Excuse me, I said that we're MARRIED! And all you can think about is the fact that I'm using a tone?"

"Well I'm sorry Kelsi, but I tend to get a little offended when people refer to me like I'm some sort of disease!" he exclaimed.

"I think we have more important things to worry about here," she pointed out.

"Yeah, like the fact that I'm married to the living equivalent of Thumbelina," he muttered. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"What did you just call me?" she asked.

"Thumbelina," he repeated. He laughed at the look of annoyance on her face. "Now see? How do you like being insulted?"

"Look Sasquatch,I was not insulting you! I was complaining about being _married_ to you," she argued. They glared at each other for several seconds until Zeke's lip quivered slightly.

"Did you really just call me Sasquatch?"

"You called me Thumbelina," she pointed out. She let out a long sigh. "I'm sorry I got a tone with you. I just..."

"It's okay, Kelsi," he said softly. "This definitely isn't how either of us thought we would spend the morning."

"To say the least," she nodded, leveling her gaze on him. "What are we going to do?"

"Take care of it. Everything will be fine, Kelsi. No one else knows," he began.

"Martha does," Kelsi winced, "so Jason probably does too."

"That's not so bad," he decided. "We'll just tell them not to say anything about it. No point giving any more of our friends heart attacks. Meanwhile, we'll figure out how to take care of it and that'll be that. Everything is going to be fine."

--------------------------

"Oh good, you're not dead," Ryan Evans quipped as his sister finally opened her hotel door.

"I wish I was," Sharpay winced, holding her head in her hands. "How bad was it last night?"

"Well let's see," he said, making his way into her room. "You danced with about half of the men in the club and then threw up on the sidewalk." He held a finger up. "Sidewalks actually - the one outside of the club and the one outside of the hotel."

"I can't believe I had so much to drink," she moaned, stumbling over to the bed to sit down.

"You didn't take your aspirin," he frowned, glancing at her bedside table.

"What?" She followed his gaze and noticed that there was a bottle of water sitting on a napkin next to a couple of pills. The trashcan had also been placed by the side of the bed. "How did those get there?"

"I put them there," he answered. Sharpay gave him a small smile.

"I'm technically the older sibling," she started, "but somehow you're always the one taking care of me. Thanks Ryan."

"You're welcome," he said, watching as she stuck the pills in her mouth and chugged down some water. "What were you thinking last night? I thought you wanted to try and get Zeke back. Instead you get drunk and flirt with as many men as humanly possible."

"I wasn't trying to get drunk," she said, defensively. "I had a couple of shots to calm me down some. I had no idea how hard it would be seeing Zeke again. And then I thought, hey, maybe if I dance with some guys it'll make him jealous and he'll want to save me."

"How'd that work out for you?" Ryan asked, sarcastically. "The guys kept buying you drinks and you kept sipping at them, slowly working your way up to getting completely trashed."

"It was stupid, okay? I know that." She made a face. "At least I didn't leave the club with some random person like he did." Ryan winced. He had been hoping that Sharpay would have forgotten the fact that the two of them had seen Zeke leaving the club with a girl whose face they couldn't make out. "I expect that kind of thing from other guys, but Zeke?"

"Well...he is single and available," Ryan said slowly, trailing off at the look of hurt that flashed across Sharpay's face. "And if it makes you feel any better I think he was completely wasted too."

"Since when does Zeke get wasted?" she asked.

"Since he sees his former girlfriend dancing with about a million different guys," he answered, his voice soft. "Your plan worked...sort of. He kept an eye on you all night, oftentimes with a look of murderous rage in his eyes. Only instead of coming to your aid, he kept drinking. Probably to avoid killing someone."

"Great," Sharpay sighed. "I act like an idiot and he goes and gets drunk and leaves with some other girl. And we both know what happened then."

"Oh come on, Sharpay, we don't know what happened. We don't even know if they went anywhere together. We just saw them leave the club at the same time," he pointed out, in an attempt to make her feel better. "Come on, this is Zeke we're talking about here."

"He was drunk," Sharpay shook her head. "People do all sorts of stupid things when they drink too much." She let out a very uncharacteristic snort. "Look at me."

"Even so," he said. "We still don't know what happened."

"And what if he did bring her back to his hotel room? Then what?" she challenged.

"Then he'll wake up and feel terrible about what happened. He'll probably beat himself up over it because this is not the kind of thing he usually does and he'll feel bad because he'll feel like he took advantage of her. Odds are, if it happened, he'll apologize to her profusely and then send her on her way and that will be that." He let out a short laugh, trying his best to make light of the situation. "Cheer up. At worst, he brought her back to his room. It's not like he would've been dumb enough to find a wedding chapel and marry her."

"At least I hope not," Sharpay mumbled.

--------------------------

"Okay look," Zeke said, leveling his gaze at Jason, "we don't want anyone else knowing about this." It was later in the day, and Zeke and Kelsi had arranged to meet with Jason and Martha so the four of them could head down to join the others as a group. Jason, of course, had found out about Zeke and Kelsi's marriage from his wife, who had been unable to keep herself from telling him.

"Please guys," Kelsi pleaded, looking from Jason to Martha. "This is really, really embarrassing."

"Don't worry about it," Martha assured her. "I won't say anything." All three of them turned to Jason.

"What?" he asked. When they all continued to stare at him, he raised his hands in defense. "You can trust me! I won't say anything either."

"You promise?" Kelsi asked.

"Of course," he replied.

"Really?" Zeke pressed.

"Really," he said, letting out a huff in annoyance. "Honestly guys, you talk to me like I'm a moron or something. You don't want me to tell, I won't tell. Have some faith."

"I'm sorry honey," Martha apologized. "You just...I know you don't mean to, but you have a habit of blurting things out when you shouldn't."

"Never anything this big!" he protested. "Look, guys, I promise that I will not say a word about this to anyone else."

"Thank you," Kelsi said, gratefully. The four of them rounded a corner and headed into the main lobby of their hotel.

"Hey guys! Over here!" Troy called to them from partway across the room. As Kelsi and the others walked over, she noticed that everyone was present with the exception of Ryan and Sharpay.

"Hey guys," Jason and Martha said together.

"How bad are you guys hurting today?" Chad asked, grinning, directing his attention to Zeke and Kelsi. "You both had a lot to drink last night, apparently."

"I am never drinking again," Kelsi quipped, trying her best to look natural. "Hangovers suck."

"You can say that again," Gabriella piped up and Kelsi looked over to see that Gabriella was holding a water bottle, most likely a cold one, to her head. "I don't know what I was thinking last night."

"That seemed to be a problem for a lot of us last night," Jason muttered, causing Zeke, Kelsi and Martha to glare at him in response.

"What do you mean?" Taylor asked, her eyes narrowing as she studied the group. Kelsi winced, knowing that if Taylor suspected anything that she wouldn't let up until she knew what was going on.

"Yeah, what did you mean?" Zeke asked, his voice sharp.

"I was talking about those of us who had too much to drink," Jason answered, defensively. "I know I was feeling it a little bit this morning."

"Me too, man," Chad piped up. "But probably not as bad as some of you."

"This morning was a little rough," Zeke admitted, sneaking a peek at Kelsi who gave him a look of warning in response.

"Here you go guys," Troy said, reaching for a couple of the water bottles that Kelsi hadn't noticed were on one of the tables behind him. "I figured you might need these," he added, handing one to Zeke and one to Kelsi.

"Thanks Troy," Kelsi said, smiling at him as she reached for hers. All of a sudden Taylor let out a gasp.

"What's wrong?" Chad asked, looking over at her strangely.

"Kelsi, what's that ring on your hand?" Taylor asked, causing Kelsi to freeze. She slowly glanced down and felt all of the blood drain out of her face as she realized that in her hurry to get dressed and ready for the day that she had forgotten to take her wedding ring off. Gabriella let out a small gasp of her own. "It looks like...," Taylor let out a disbelieving laugh, "it looks like a wedding ring."

"Um...well..." Kelsi stammered, looking back and forth between Martha and Zeke.

"Oh sure," Chad snorted. "This is Kelsi, Taylor. Not exactly the type to up and get married to some random dude."

"Maybe not while sober," Taylor countered, leveling her gaze at Kelsi. "But people can act really differently when they're drunk."

"Kelsi?" Gabriella asked, her eyes wide at the look on Kelsi's face.

"I...I didn't," Kelsi whispered.

"Kelsi didn't get married to some random guy," Jason spoke up.

"Jason!" Martha hissed.

"What? She didn't! I didn't say she got married at all. It could just be a ring after all. Right, Kelsi?" Jason asked. "Maybe the ring finger is the only one the ring fits on." Kelsi shot him a look of gratitude.

"Oh Jason, you worried me for a second there," Martha said, with a relieved sigh. "I thought you were going to tell everyone that Kelsi married Zeke."

"Martha!" Zeke practically growled.

"What? I..." Martha trailed off as she realized what she had just said. "Oops..."

"Martha!" Jason echoed, shaking his head at his wife. "And you guys worried about me," he mumbled under his breath.

"I am so sorry," Martha whispered to Kelsi and Zeke. "I didn't mean to..." Kelsi shook her head, bringing her hands up to her face in horror. She risked a peek at the other four through her fingers. All four of them – Taylor, Gabriella, Chad and Troy – were standing there with identical looks of pure shock on their faces, eyes wide and jaws dropped. For a long moment no one said anything. Finally Chad broke the silence by laughing.

"Good one guys," he said, grinning at them. "You really had us going for a second there. Like the two of them would really up and get married." He looked over at Taylor, Gabriella and Troy. "This had to be a set up."

"Chad," Zeke said quietly. He took a breath and slowly lifted his left hand to show Chad his own wedding ring that he, like Kelsi, had forgotten to take off.

"Oh my God," Taylor said, bringing a hand up to cover her mouth.

"Holy crap," Troy muttered. "You...you two got..." He pointed back and forth between Kelsi and Zeke. "You got..."

"You two got married!" Chad exclaimed, his voice loud enough to have several other people in the lobby looking in their direction.

"Announce it to the world, why don't you?" Zeke said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Yes, okay, I admit it. Both Kelsi and I had way too much to drink and neither of us really knows how we made it to that chapel or what exactly happened. But yes, we got married last night."

"What!?" another voice shrieked from behind them. Zeke closed his eyes in horror. That voice could only belong to one person and one person only. He glanced at Kelsi, noting that she had gone deathly pale. Their eyes met and held for a couple of seconds, each one able to see the fear the other was currently feeling. "What did you just say!?" Kelsi gulped while Zeke took a deep breath. Then, almost as if synchronized, both of them slowly turned around to face an extremely shocked Sharpay, with an equally surprised Ryan right behind her.

"Uh-oh," Taylor mumbled, turning to Chad. "This oughta be interesting," she whispered in his ear.

"Anyone have any popcorn?" he asked in response.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thanks for all the reviews/support for the last chapter guys! First of all, I'll put a minor language warning for this chapter for a couple of words. I usually will mention a character cursing, but not the actual word. In this case I chose to write out the word itself because it made a bigger impact. This chapter was interesting to write because there's so much going on emotionally. We have four people who have been hurt very badly and on top of that we have people trying to protect other people. In m****y personal experience, people who are in pain will often cause pain to others as a way to cope. This is the case here. So if a couple of people (mainly Zeke and Ryan) seem OOC, that's why. Everyone reacts the way they do because they're hurting and wanting to lash out. ****It all makes for a fairly volatile environment. ****I think I could've written this out better and made it more dramatic, but I wasn't sure how far to take it. At some point there'll be flashbacks to the breakups between both Zeke/Sharpay and Ryan/Kelsi, so there may be things in here that you'll wonder about that'll get explained later. Particularly with the Ryan/Kelsi breakup which, as you'll see, was really brutal. Let's just say that Ryan had good cause to be a little bitter, as does Zeke. I still have a couple of surprises in store, but for now I h****ope you all enjoy this chapter. Let me know!**

* * *

The air in the lobby suddenly seemed full of an eerie sort of calm, much like the calm that exists before a horrific storm. Gabriella looked around at her friends, wondering if anyone else could feel it, or if it was just her. She quietly slipped her hand into Troy's and smiled briefly when he gently squeezed it. On her other side Taylor was looking back and forth between the Evans twins and Zeke and Kelsi. She felt the storm brewing just like Gabriella had and inadvertently took a step backwards. Next to her, Chad had a look of anticipation on his face just like a little kid on Christmas morning. A few feet away from him, Martha kept her focus on Kelsi, fearful that Sharpay would explode and tear into her. Out of all of the remaining spectators, Jason and Troy both looked to be halfway between anticipating the scene about to unfold and wishing it would just unfold already.

"Zeke!?" Sharpay spoke up, finally. "What did you just say?" Zeke studied her for several moments, intrigued by her expression. Her voice was loud and sharp, indicating the temper tantrum that he assumed would be coming. But it wasn't the sound of her voice that intrigued him at this particular second. Rather it was her eyes which were wide with shock and, surprisingly enough, looked to be glistening with tears. Interesting, he thought, that she would look so upset over this revelation when she had been the one to end their relationship in the first place.

"Zeke? I believe that my sister asked you a question," Ryan spoke up. His voice was quiet, a direct contrast to his sister's, but there was something about his tone that made Zeke nervous.

"Yes," Zeke acknowledged. He snuck a glance at Kelsi, who looked to be on the verge of passing out. Her eyes were practically a reflection of Sharpay's in that they were wide and glistening with tears. Only whereas Sharpay was shocked, Kelsi was afraid. Zeke nodded to himself, knowing that no matter what happened in the moments to come, he would do his best to protect Kelsi. "First of all," he said, bringing his attention back to Sharpay, "I would just like to say that both Kelsi and I were drunk last night. What happened was not something we either planned or decided and it was a huge shock to both of us to find out." He took a deep breath and prayed that Sharpay could see the sincerity in his eyes over what he had just said. "But somehow, neither one of us really knows why, Kelsi and I got married last night."

"Let me see your hand," Sharpay demanded, holding out hers. Zeke wordlessly offered his left hand to her, watching as she inspected the ring on it. "You," she snapped her fingers at Kelsi. "Give me your hand. Come on, I want to see it for myself." Her eyes narrowed and Zeke took a small step closer to Kelsi in a show of support. "Now!" Sharpay ordered. Kelsi stuck her left hand out, wincing when Sharpay gave her a hard tug to examine the ring more closely. "My God," Sharpay exclaimed, her eyes darting from Zeke to Kelsi and back. "You actually did it. You got married." Her jaw clenched as she tried to wrap her mind around the news. "You got married! To _her_," she spit out, shooting a glare in first Kelsi's direction and then Zeke's. "It's bad enough you got married, but to Kelsi? What were you thinking?"

"I wasn't thinking!" Zeke said, defensively.

"Clearly," Sharpay huffed. "Of all the people you could have married..."

"Hey, I'm lucky it was Kelsi," Zeke cut in, surprising the group in general. "If I had to go and get married while I'm drunk, at least it was to someone I know!"

"You would have done better with a stranger," Sharpay declared. "A stranger might at least have a heart!"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Zeke asked, feeling his temper start to build. Sharpay jabbed a finger at Kelsi.

"She likes everyone to think she's an innocent, kind, good person but it's all a bunch of crap! It's all an act."

"Oh give me a break," Zeke rolled his eyes. "Kelsi's one of the nicest people I know."

"Oh really? One of the nicest?" Sharpay let out a cold laugh. "Do you," she swept her gaze over the rest of their friends, "do _any_ of you remember what she did to my brother?" She jabbed her finger at Ryan. "He treated her like a princess! He went out of his way to be the best boyfriend he could possibly be, the kind of boyfriend most girls wish they could have. He loved her! He never so much as even _looked_ at another girl, he loved her so much. And how did she repay him?" Sharpay asked, her voice dripping with venom. "She broke his heart. She more or less ripped it out of his chest and stomped it into the ground! She treated him like garbage! After everything he did for her!" She took several steps towards Kelsi, until she was glaring down at her. "Didn't you?" Kelsi dropped her gaze and Zeke could see that she was trembling. "Didn't you!?" Sharpay yelled. "Admit it!"

"Yes," Kelsi whispered, her voice barely audible.

"What?" Sharpay made a show of cupping her ear with her hand and leaning in closer. "What was that?"

"Yes," Kelsi said, louder this time. Sharpay gave her a look of absolute disgust before turning her attention back to Zeke.

"See? She even admits it," she said, smirking. "You picked yourself a real winner, Zeke."

"How dare you," he said softly. "How dare you stand there and talk about Kelsi that way." He shook his head, his eyes full of restrained fury. "You stand there and judge her, but what about you? Like you're any better?"

"What?" Sharpay asked, her voice faltering ever so slightly.

"You stand there and condemn Kelsi for how she treated your brother, but what about how you treated me?" he challenged, placing his hand above his heart. "What about what you did to my heart?"

"That...that was different," she managed. Zeke raised an eyebrow, noting that her voice seemed to lack some of the venom it had contained previously.

"What's the matter Sharpay? Don't like it when the finger is pointed at you?" Zeke laughed, without humor.

"Careful," Ryan warned.

"We were together for years," Zeke pressed on, his eyes locked on Sharpay's as he ignored Ryan's warning. "We loved each other! I thought we were going to spend the rest of our lives together. I even proposed!" He tore his eyes from hers to look around at his friends. "Did any of you know that?" He brought his attention back to Sharpay. "I asked you to marry me. And you said no. Do you know why you said no?"

"I didn't want to marry you," she whispered.

"Bull," he shook his head. "That's a load of bull and you know it. You wanted to marry me, you wanted it more than anything. But you said no and the reason you said no was because you were afraid. Of what I don't know. Afraid I'd leave you, afraid to be happy...I don't know what you were scared of, but you were. And instead of talking to me about it like you should have, you ran away. You didn't even have the guts to tell me you were leaving! You told me you had to think about it and the next day you were gone! You did the exact same thing Kelsi did to Ryan and yet you point your finger at her for it." He paused. "So, what? It's okay for you to treat people like garbage, but no one else has that right?" He bent down so his face was level with her. "Is that right, princess?"

"That's enough," Ryan spoke up, his voice dangerous. "You have no right to talk to my sister like that. And," he added, stepping forward and gently nudging Sharpay aside, "you also have no right to compare her to Kelsi, because what Kelsi did was so much worse."

"How do you figure that?" Zeke asked.

"You know the difference between Sharpay and Kelsi?" Ryan asked, plowing ahead before Zeke could answer. "Sharpay genuinely loved you. You know she did." Ryan turned his head to look at Kelsi, his eyes cold. "Kelsi said she loved me. She even made me think she loved me, but it was all an act. She toyed with my emotions throughout our entire relationship. I fell for it, I admit. I thought she was a great girl, but in the end she turned out to be nothing more than a cold, manipulative bitch." At his harsh words, Kelsi recoiled as if she had been physically struck. The tears she had been trying to hold back started falling and though she tried, she couldn't get them to stop. "Oh what's the matter Kelsi?" Ryan asked, his voice mocking. "Are these tears to make everyone feel sorry for you, or tears because you know I'm right?"

"Leave her alone," Zeke hissed.

"I have to say I'm a little surprised. I mean, I've figured out what kind of person you are, Kelsi, but I never imagined you'd turn into some kind of tramp." Ryan sneered at her and then brought his focus back to Zeke. "Guess that worked out well for you, huh? She must have been pretty desperate the way she was acting last night."

"Nothing happened, Ryan," Zeke said, with a growl.

"You both were drunk out of your minds," Ryan said, rolling his eyes. "You got married didn't you? Of course something happened!" He looked back at Kelsi. "Tell me Kelsi...you lied about loving me, so did you also lie about the whole waiting until marriage thing? Or did you really have that goal, but it became too lofty for you? Were you so desperate for some action that anyone would do? Even my sister's ex-boyfriend?" His voice was cruel and the sound of it was like so many daggers piercing Kelsi's heart. She flinched as he stepped closer. "Maybe it's sick to say, but I guess my next question is just how many times did you consummate your marriage?" Before she could even process what she was doing, she reached back and then slapped him as hard as she possibly could.

"You little," Sharpay started, anger flashing in her eyes. She went to take a step towards Kelsi, but was stopped by both Jason and Zeke.

"I'm happy I left you," Kelsi whispered to Ryan. Her hand felt like it was on fire and she could see the imprint of it on his cheek. She was attempting to sound as cruel as he had, but it didn't even come close to masking the hurt she was feeling. "I was actually going to apologize for what I said to you that day, but you know what? I can't because I meant every single word. I hate you!" It wasn't the truth and it wasn't right, but in that moment all Kelsi wanted to do was hurt him. She ignored the almost crippling pain that she saw in his eyes, and the accompanying guilt, and shoved him away with all of her might. "Stay away from me." She brushed past him and then hurried out of the lobby, barely able to see through her tears.

"Kelsi!" Martha took a few steps after her, but stopped to glare at Ryan. "I hope you're proud of yourself." She spit the words at him before taking off in the direction that Kelsi had gone. Gabriella followed soon after her, tears in her eyes.

"You have a lot of nerve, Evans," Zeke said, angrily. "Kelsi is not and never would be some kind of tramp, as you called her. Never in a million years." He scoffed. "If you want to know what some kind of tramp is, look no further than your own sister."

"You son of a..." Ryan growled.

"The truth hurts, doesn't it?" Zeke took a step forward. "Kelsi got drunk and danced with a couple of random guys. That's nothing. You're sister was practically making out with who knows how many guys last night on the dance floor! So you tell me who the tramp is!"

"Leave my sister alone," Ryan threatened.

"What, like how you left Kelsi alone?" Zeke snapped back. "I don't think so." The rest of the guys in the group were keeping their attention on the two of them, prepared to butt in should an actual fight break out. Taylor, however, kept her focus on Sharpay, who had tears rolling down her face.

"Sharpay?" Taylor whispered, moving closer to her. Sharpay merely shook her head in response before turning on her heels and rushing out of the lobby in the opposite direction Kelsi had gone.

"Kelsi deserved it," Ryan shot back.

"And Sharpay didn't?" Zeke countered.

"Would you two stop it!" Taylor yelled, positioning herself directly between Zeke and Ryan.

"Get out of the way, Taylor," Zeke growled. "This isn't about you."

"You want me out of the way, you're going to have to move me," Taylor responded, glaring at him.

"And if you do that, I might have to get involved," Chad spoke up. The amusement had long since faded from his expression and now he was gearing up to defend his girlfriend, should it come to that.

"You two should be ashamed of yourselves!" Taylor cried. "You're both acting like jerks." She turned her attention to Ryan. "You didn't notice it because you were too busy fighting with Zeke, but your sister just ran away in tears. You should probably go see if she's okay. I'll even go with you." Ryan looked from her and up to Zeke, as if trying to figure out what to do.

"Which way did she go?" he asked, finally, deciding that taking care of Sharpay was more important than fighting with Zeke.

"Over there somewhere," Taylor pointed. "You go ahead, I'll be right behind you." She watched him start to leave and then spun around to face Zeke. "And you!"

"What did I do?" Zeke exclaimed. "Someone needed to defend Kelsi!"

"But did you really have to hurt Sharpay in order to do it?"

"Oh please," Zeke huffed. "We all saw the way she acted last night! I can only imagine which random guy she left the club with."

"You have no idea what you're talking about." Taylor narrowed her eyes. "I know Sharpay hurt you, but that doesn't mean she deserved to have you more or less call her a slut. You may think you know what happened last night, but you have no idea." Disgusted with the entire situation, Taylor turned on her heels and followed after Ryan.

"Can you believe her?" Zeke spun around to face his former teammates. "I know what I saw!"

"She has a point," Troy spoke up. "You don't know what happened last night." He shook his head. "You were out of line, Zeke."

"What? Are you telling me you're siding with Ryan and Sharpay?" Zeke jabbed a finger in the direction they had both gone. "You heard what he said about Kelsi! How am I the one that's one of line here? How can we even be friends with that creep?"

"I'm not siding with anyone," Troy said, calmly. "I don't like what Ryan said to Kelsi either, but you're both wrong here."

"In other words, you both acted like jackasses," Chad chimed in.

"I know what I saw," Zeke repeated his earlier statement. "I love Sharpay, but come on."

"First of all," Troy started, "if you're going to condemn her for her actions, then you better point a finger at yourself and Kelsi too."

"Excuse me?" Zeke raised an eyebrow.

"You guys got married!" he exclaimed.

"We were drunk!" Zeke shot back.

"So what? Just because you guys were drunk, it makes what happened okay?" Troy shook his head again. "If you're going to use that argument, than you can't fault Sharpay for what she did last night. All three of you made bad errors in judgment last night and you're all going to have to own up to them." Troy sighed. "Do you want to know what happened with Sharpay after you left the club with Kelsi?"

"I know what happened," Zeke shrugged. "She went back to some hotel with some random person."

"Wrong," Troy informed him.

"Then what did happen?" Zeke wanted to know.

"Sharpay saw you leave with what was assumed to be some random girl," Chad chimed in. "She was already drunk at that point, but stumbled over to the bar to order another drink. Me and Ryan ended up practically dragging her out of the club, where she immediately puked on the sidewalk. The three of us and Taylor then took a cab back to the hotel. She fell asleep on the way back and it might be of interest of you to know that I think I heard her say your name in her sleep a couple of times," he continued. "We got her up to get her into the hotel and she puked again on this sidewalk. We then dragged her up to her room where she more or less instantly passed out." Chad raised an eyebrow. "And that creep Ryan made sure she had water and aspirin for when she woke up and also put a trashcan by her bed in case she puked again."

"See Zeke? Both you and Ryan are basically good guys, but you both were wrong here. You should apologize to Sharpay at some point," Troy decided.

"Oh man," Zeke sighed. "How did everything get so messed up?"

------------------------

"How did everything get so messed up?" Kelsi was in the bathroom in the lobby, crying, with Gabriella and Martha on either side of her. "How could I be so stupid?"

"You're not stupid, Kelsi," Gabriella said, gently.

"I got drunk and married," Kelsi sniffled. "That's bad enough. But what have I done to Ryan? He's a c-completely different person now and it's all m-my fault!" she cried. "This whole thing is my fault."

"No it's not," Martha argued. "I know it seems bad right now, but everything is going to work out. You'll see."

"Martha's right," Gabriella agreed. "Everything is going to be okay."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Thanks for all the reviews, alerts, etc everyone! This chapter picks up directly where the last one left off. Flashback time! I told you that Kelsi and Ryan's breakup was brutal and now you'll see why. One thing I want everyone to keep in mind in this chapter: Kelsi is suffering from a major case of flawed logic. Remember, when she broke up with Ryan she felt like she had to break his heart to keep him from coming after her. I think it's safe to say that she tried to hurt him in every way she possibly could - the worse she could make him feel, the better the odds were that he wouldn't come after her. Hence some of the insults she gives. In a way she was right, but her reasoning for breaking up with him in the first place was flawed. That was very much intentional. Another thing to keep in mind is that the flashback is starting partway through Ryan and Kelsi's conversation that day, not at the actual beginning of it - Ryan will be flashing back to that part himself later on. ****Ryan's mini-speech to Kelsi at the end of their flashback was inspired by the song "You're Gonna Love Me" by Little Big Town - it's like a tiny little songfic at that part. Great song that I think works perfectly. Angst ahead, proceed with caution. ;-) ****Hope you like this chapter. Let me know!**

**Next chapter you'll find out exactly what happened between Zeke and Sharpay. More flashbacks and a backstory I can't wait to write to come! **

* * *

"You don't know that," Kelsi sniffled. "Everything is all screwed up and I don't know how to fix it. I don't even know where to start!"

"How about at the beginning?" Gabriella suggested. "What happened between you and Ryan? You guys were so happy together...at least it seemed like you were."

"We were," Kelsi whispered.

"Then what happened?" Gabriella looked completely confused. "Why'd you guys break up?"

"It's a long story," Kelsi informed her, not really wanting to get into it.

"I have time," Gabriella told her.

"So do I," Martha piped up, even though she knew the story already.

"Me and Ryan were happy...we were so happy," Kelsi started. "He was the best boyfriend in the world and I loved him. I loved him so much."

"Correction." Martha held a finger up. "You _love_ him so much. You can deny it all you want but I think both me and Gabriella can see the truth." She looked over to Gabriella for confirmation, smiling when she got a nod in response.

"Okay, fine." Kelsi let out a tired sigh. "I love him. I can't believe how much I love him after all this time, but I do. I can't help it. It's like I was destined to love him."

"So what happened?" Gabriella asked again.

"I got scared," Kelsi told her.

"Of what?" Gabriella pressed.

"I was scared of turning out like my mother," Kelsi answered. Gabriella's brow furrowed and Kelsi could see that the answer had confused her further.

"Your mom walked out on you when you were young, didn't she?" Gabriella asked.

"Yes," Kelsi confirmed. "I was five years old. She loved my dad, or so she said, but she didn't want to be a mother. Her mother did the exact same thing and so did _hers_. All the women on my mom's side of their family always leave their families. I don't know...I felt like I was destined to do the same thing." She shook her head. "It's funny. I was so scared of getting married to Ryan and having a baby because I was worried that if I did, I would just end up leaving too. I couldn't stand the thought of not only leaving Ryan, but leaving him with a baby to take care of on his own. I thought it'd be better if I ended things with him before that could happen."

"I don't think I understand," Gabriella admitted. "You broke up with him because you were scared of leaving him?"

"Basically." Kelsi gave Gabriella a somewhat sheepish smile. "I didn't say my explanation would make sense. I didn't want to turn out like my mom, but that's exactly what I did. I felt like I had no choice. I actually ended up seeing a therapist about it after I left New York. My dad thought it would be a good idea."

"Did it help?" Gabriella wanted to know.

"It did," Kelsi nodded. "Therapy helped me figure out that just because the other women on my mom's side of the family acted the way they did, it didn't mean I had to. Or that just because they were all a certain way, it didn't mean I had to be. My therapist helped me understand that I am my own person and that all of the choices I've made in my life were just that: my choices. I'm responsible for my own life and I can choose what I do or don't do, what I am and what I'm not."

"Good," Gabriella smiled at her. "I'm happy to hear that."

"Of course what Kelsi isn't telling you is why she stopped going," Martha spoke up, giving Kelsi a pointed look.

"Why did you?" Gabriella asked.

"I stopped going because that was my biggest problem and it got taken care of," Kelsi answered, ignoring Martha's raised eyebrow in response.

"That's not why you stopped going and you know it," Martha countered. "You stopped because the therapist wanted to talk more about your feelings about your mother."

"I have no feelings for my mother," Kelsi argued, her voice going cold. "She decided a long time ago that she wasn't interested in being my mother, so she left. That was her choice and that's fine. I dealt with that a long time ago." Martha and Gabriella exchanged a look as she spoke. It was pretty apparent to both of them that Kelsi had without question _not_ dealt with it, but they decided that they would not press the issue at the moment.

"Well whether or not that's true," Gabriella said, "that's beside the point. You said you left Ryan because you felt you had no choice, and I get that. What I don't get is why you haven't gone back to him if you've worked through what drove you away in the first place. Especially since you still love him."

"Oh Gabriella," Kelsi sighed and there was an unmistakable sadness in it. "I could never go back to Ryan. Not after what I did to him."

"And so I'll ask again," Gabriella began. "What happened? What did you do that was so terrible that you can never go back to him?"

"I never intended to treat him the way I did...at least not at first. I knew he was going to propose and I panicked. I knew that I wouldn't be able to say no and I couldn't let that happen. So I went over to his apartment and tried to tell him that things weren't working out. He was surprised, to say the least, and he fought me on the issue. He fought so hard for me, for us. I left his apartment that night in tears and was still crying by the time I got back to my place." Kelsi took a breath as fresh tears filled her eyes. "There was a message from him on my answering machine when I got inside. He told me how much he loved me and how he was going to give me some time to calm down and that he'd be over in the morning to talk. It was then that I knew what I had to do," she sniffled. "If I could go back and do it all over, I would have gotten on a plane that night. I would've been back home with my dad by the time he got over to my apartment the next morning. He still would've been hurt, but at least I would have spared him from all of the pain I ended up inflicting." She let out a disbelieving huff. "Would you guys believe that he actually brought me flowers? I break up with him the night before when he didn't do anything wrong to warrant it and he still brings me flowers. And not just flowers but a bouquet of roses. There were roses of every color in that bouquet too. It was beautiful!"

"I wonder why he chose roses of different colors," Gabriella pondered, giggling slightly at the looks both Kelsi and Martha gave her in response. "Random thought, sorry."

"Different colors represent different things," Martha offered. "And you figure that roses are probably the most classic of all flowers and my guess is he was trying to make a statement." She gave Kelsi a sad smile. "Unless I miss my guess, I would bet that he was trying his best to convince you how much he loved you. I can see Ryan being into that kind of symbolism."

"It fits, doesn't it? The man's practically a modern day Prince Charming," Kelsi nodded. "At least he used to be."

"So he shows up with a bunch of beautiful flowers," Gabriella said, trying to get them back on the track she had temporarily derailed them from. "Then what happened?"

"You know guys, I'd never considered myself to be much of an actress, but that day I put on a show worthy of an Academy Award." Kelsi let out another sigh. "If I could, I would take back every single word I said to him that morning..."

-------------------------

"Come on, Kelsi, talk to me. I know something's bothering you and I can't help fix it until I know what it is," Ryan said, deliberately keeping his voice as soothing as possible.

"I told you last night...it's just not working out between us. I'm sorry," she said, forcing herself not to look at either his eyes or the gorgeous flowers he had brought her.

"No, there's more to it than that. I know there is. I thought everything was great with us," he tried.

"Well it's not and it hasn't been." She turned away from him. "We've been far from great." That much had been true. Things hadn't been great between them...they had been wonderful, she thought to herself.

"So we've both been a little stressed out lately. It happens. It doesn't mean we have to break up," he tried again.

"Stress isn't the problem here, Ryan. It's us. I just...I can't do this anymore. I just can't," she shot back.

"What did I do?" The question tore at her and made it hard for her to catch her breath. "Baby, if I did anything to hurt you in some way or said something that bothered you, I'm sorry. Whatever it is that went wrong, we can figure it out. I love you, Kelsi."

"You didn't do anything," she said softly. "It's not you...it's us. We're just...we're just not compatible."

"Not compatible," he repeated. "Are you kidding me? We're perfect for each other! I don't know why you're suddenly acting like this. We are not the problem here, honey, something else is. Come on...tell me what's wrong."

"I'm trying to," she whispered. "We're not working out. I...it's over, Ryan. There's no fixing anything, it's just over."

"If you think I'm just going to let you walk away from us and everything we mean to each other, you're dreaming," he said in response, his voice passionate. "I don't know what you're suddenly so scared of, but it doesn't matter. I love you, dammit, and I know you love me. I am not about to let you go!" She knew what he said was true and it suddenly became very obvious what she had to do.

"I don't love you," she said the words so quietly at first that he barely heard them.

"What?" he asked, sounding confused. She slowly turned back around to face him, forcing her eyes to go cold and dead so he couldn't read them. It was easy enough – she just had to imagine how she would feel once he was out of her life for good.

"I don't love you," she repeated, deliberately making her voice sound as harsh as she possible could.

"You're lying." He shook his head in disbelief. "I don't know why, but you're lying."

"No, this is probably the first time I'm telling you the truth," she argued. "I don't love you. I never did."

"That's a load of crap. I know how you feel about me. I," he started.

"Wrong. You know how I wanted you to think I felt about you. It was never real," she interrupted him.

"If that was true, explain how we've been a couple for over a year?" he challenged. She froze momentarily, hoping he wouldn't notice.

"You asked me out and everyone else in our group was paired off so I accepted. We had a good time that first night, I admit. That...that actually gave me my idea." She had no idea where the inspiration had come from, but she went with it. "See...all of us...you, me, Troy, Sharpay...we were all trying to get the Juilliard scholarship. Troy was never going to go to Juilliard, so he wasn't a problem. Sharpay was a threat and so were you. You're a nice enough guy, so I decided that I could pretend to be interested in you to get you to help me instead of helping your sister. Worked out pretty well for both of us, didn't it? All anyone talked about after the show was the music and the choreography." She gave him a look as another wave of inspiration hit. "Though to be perfectly honest, I don't know what they saw in the choreography. It was mediocre at best, but then what else would I expect from you?" It had been a well aimed blow. If there was one thing that meant a lot to the entire Evans family as a whole, it was their sense of pride.

"Excuse me?" He sounded angry, which was just the reaction Kelsi had been hoping for. "You always told me you thought I was a brilliant choreographer." She forced herself to roll her eyes, trying her best to ignore the hurt she saw hiding behind his anger.

"Oh please...if I could lie about loving you, I could certainly lie about that." She hated herself a little more with every word she spoke, but she knew it was necessary. "What? Did you really think you and your sister were the only people who could act?"

"What is wrong with you?" he asked. "You're acting like a completely different person."

"Ryan, look, I know this is coming as a shock to you and I'm sorry about that. I never wanted to have to tell you the truth, but you wouldn't let it go. I'm sorry if it's not what you want to hear," she said.

"If all that is true," he began. "Why didn't you just break up with me when we got here to Juilliard? You got what you wanted didn't you? So why keep it up?"

"Because we had some fun together and let's face it, I might not love you, but you're a pretty decent kisser. I figured I could put up with all of it for a while...at least until someone better came along." She let out a mocking laugh, still hating herself more with every passing second. "I just can't believe you couldn't tell I was pretending. Maybe I should have gone into acting instead of music, huh? You certainly fell for it, though I guess you've never been known for being all that bright."

"You....you..." he sputtered.

"You...you..." she mocked, rolling her eyes again. "Case in point right there. Out of the two of you, Sharpay definitely got the brains. You can't even come up with a response."

"I...I'm hearing the words coming out of your mouth and I just can't believe them. I don't know why you're saying all of this, but" he started.

"Because it's the truth! Why can't you figure that out? I don't love you! Period. I never had any feelings for you. I'm sorry that you were dumb enough to believe I did."

-----------------------------

"Kelsi," Gabriella cut in, shocked at the story she was being told. "How could you say all those things to him?"

"That was only the beginning, though it was more of the same after that," Kelsi admitted, deeply ashamed of what she had done. "That was the single hardest thing I ever had to do."

"But you didn't have to do it!" Gabriella cried. "If you were scared and wanted to run away, you should've just done that. Why'd you have to be so cruel?"

"Because that was the only way he would've let me go!" Kelsi snapped. "Don't you understand? He was totally in love with me and completely committed to our relationship. If he believed there was any hope for us at all, he would've fought for me and he would've fought hard. I had to hurt him enough that he wouldn't bother coming after me. It was for his own good."

"For his own good? Are you serious? You told him you never loved him!" Gabriella shook her head. "He deserved better than that!"

"Don't you think I know that? Do you think I'm proud of what I did? Of how I treated him? I'm not! I told you before, if I could take it all back I would. Every single word, but I can't!" Kelsi exclaimed. For several seconds Gabriella just gaped at her, trying to wrap her mind around the story.

"What happened then?" she asked, finally.

"I told you...it was more of the same...I don't even want to repeat some of the things I said actually," Kelsi confessed. "He started getting mad and we fought for a while until he decided he'd had enough..."

--------------------------

"I don't even know who you are anymore!" Ryan let out a growl in frustration. "And to be perfectly honest, I don't know if I even care."

"Who's asking you to?" Kelsi challenged.

"Apparently no one." His voice was like ice by then, and the sound of it chilled Kelsi to the bone. "I loved you...hell, I love you still though I can't remember why...I don't know if you're trying to drive me away or if you're telling me the truth or what, but I give. You win. You don't want me around, I won't be around. But I'll tell you this...you will never meet another man that will come close to feeling the way about you that I did. Someday you're going to wake up in a new life and you're going to be crying. You'll be crying and I won't be there to make it better. One of these days, the lights will turn on and you'll realize what we had and you're going to love me." He paused. "And then when you find yourself empty-handed and alone, you're going to feel the sting of regret and you're going to hate me. You'll probably even curse the day you ever met me in the first place. And you know what else?"

"What?" She was almost afraid to ask.

"You're going to miss me. You're going to miss what you used to have with me and you're going to want it back. Maybe you'll meet someone else and fall for him, but it'll never be enough. You're going to want more than that. Someday you'll see me moving on and you'll understand that the choice you made today was wrong. And you're going to miss me and you're going to hate me and you're going to love me all at the same time." He shook his head in what seemed to be a mixture of anger and pain and sadness. There even seemed to be a hint of pity in it. "I actually feel sorry for you." He gave her another look and if her heart hadn't already been broken, it would've shattered into a thousand little pieces. "I hope you know what you're doing."

"Does this mean you're leaving?" she asked, hating the way her voice broke in the middle of the question. She knew it was only a matter of time before she fell apart and she did not want him to be around when it happened. Because then he would know the truth. He would see how much she was really hurting and he'd know everything she had just said was a lie.

"I guess it does," he nodded. "I guess this means goodbye."

"Guess so," she managed, lowering her gaze to the floor.

"Oh no," he muttered. "You're going to look me in the eye when you say goodbye to me. You owe me that much." She closed her eyes against the crippling pain she was feeling. "I'm going to stay here until you do so you might as well get it over with." She slowly looked up at him, using every bit of strength she had to hold back the sobs that were desperately trying to get out.

"Goodbye Ryan," she whispered the words.

"Goodbye Kelsi," he said in response. There were all sorts of emotions swirling around in his eyes, but by far the most prominent was pain. The pain he was obviously feeling was enough to bring Kelsi to her knees, though she managed to wait until he had slipped out of the apartment and closed the door behind him.

--------------------------------

"I don't think I have ever cried that much in my life. I watched the man I loved more than life itself walk out of my apartment, out of my life, after I had just deliberately broken his heart." The tears came pouring down Kelsi's face as she spoke, caught up in the memories of that horrible day. "You should've seen his face...you should've seen how badly he was hurt by all of the terrible things I said. All the lies I told him. I don't think he can ever forgive me for how I treated him...I don't think I can ever forgive myself..." Kelsi's tears starting falling harder and faster until she could barely speak. "I didn't mean any of it...I didn't mean it..."

"Oh Kelsi," Martha whispered, tears not only in her eyes but Gabriella's as well, as the two of them wrapped Kelsi in a hug.

"Why'd I do it?" Kelsi managed. "It was so stupid...I loved him...I _love_ him...why'd I d-do it?" She let out a loud sob. "Why?"


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Thanks for all the continued support everyone! I know the last chapter was kind of a hard one to get through, but I'm happy that no one has seemed to turn on poor Kelsi. I'm excited about this chapter because now I'm taking a break from the heavy angst of Ryan/Kelsi and switching to Zeke and Sharpay. In this chapter I've attempted to give Sharpay more depth by adding in a backstory about Derby and Vance that I think will kind of flip everything I think we all tend to think about the Evans family. There's a term in here that I'm not sure all of you will be familiar with, especially those of you who aren't from the United States, because I'm not sure how well known this term is - I wasn't familiar with it myself until recently. The term is roughneck and it's used to describe a person who works on an oil rig, which is one of the most dangerous jobs in the country. I'm trying a take on Derby and Vance that I don't rememeber seeing done before, so I hope you all like it. I also hope that you can see where Sharpay was coming from when she broke up with Zeke - the reason might surprise you. I also tried to infuse some much needed humor in this chapter, especially after the heaviness of the last one. I've been focusing on Sharpay and Kelsi's sides of their respective break-ups, next chapter will take a look at Zeke and Ryan's though you get a hint of Ryan's here. As you might remember in chapter 4, Sharpay ran off in tears and both Ryan and Taylor went after her which brings us here. ****Meanwhile Taylor's going to prove to be a smart one in this (which we knew already, but she'll prove it again) as you'll see. ;-) Hope you all enjoy this. Let me know!**

* * *

"How could I be so stupid?" Sharpay was crying, sandwiched between Taylor and Ryan. "What was I thinking last night?"

"You were thinking you wanted to make Zeke jealous and it backfired," Ryan supplied, earning him a glare from his sister.

"Wait, what?" Taylor spoke up. "You were trying to make Zeke jealous?"

"Oh I might as well tell you," Sharpay sighed. "I made a big mistake breaking up with Zeke all those years ago and I wanted him back. I thought...I thought if I could make him jealous, he'd hurry over to save me."

"Is that why you danced with all of those guys last night?" Taylor shook her head.

"Yes...but like Ryan pointed out, it backfired. Instead of saving me, he started drinking," she said, looking completely miserable.

"Why did _you_ start?" Taylor asked.

"The first shot was innocent enough," Sharpay said defensively. "A toast to Troy and Gabriella and all that. The second round was just for fun. The third round wasn't my fault."

"You didn't have to join in with that third round," Taylor pointed out.

"So I underestimated what seeing Zeke again would do to me," Sharpay frowned. "It seems like I'm always underestimating my feelings when it comes to him."

"Seems like you're always underestimating him," Taylor corrected. At Sharpay's glare, she shrugged. "Come on Sharpay. How long did he pursue you in high school until you decided to give him a chance?"

"She has a point," Ryan nodded. "You underestimated him then and you underestimated his feelings for you later. Isn't that part of the reason you refused to marry him?"

"Yeah, what did happen there?" Taylor was curious. "Last time I saw you guys before your breakup, everything seemed fine."

"Everything was fine," Sharpay admitted. "Well...except for _her_."

"Her?" Taylor looked back and forth between Ryan and Sharpay. "Who are you talking about?"

"Sarah Henderson." Sharpay practically spit out the name, causing Ryan to roll his eyes.

"Who's that?" Taylor asked. When Sharpay didn't respond, Taylor turned her focus to Ryan. "Well?"

"Sarah Henderson," he began, "is the daughter of one of our Dad's friends from Rhode Island. Our families got together a lot over the years for various things and showed up at the same events a lot of the time." He shot Sharpay a look. "She's a very nice girl."

"Tell me about it," Sharpay scoffed. "She's a perfectly lovely girl from a perfectly lovely family. She should probably be made into a saint; she's such a goody two shoes."

"Good to know you're not bitter, sis," Ryan said sarcastically. "I don't know why you have such an attitude about her. She didn't actually do anything."

"Of course not. She would never think to do anything even remotely dishonorable," Sharpay agreed. "She's a perfect little sweetheart."

"Okay, can one of you please help me out here? I'm completely confused," Taylor cut in. "What's the big deal about Sarah Henderson?"

"She was friends with Zeke," Ryan answered. "Though I don't think they were all that close."

"Where'd he meet her?" Taylor asked, intrigued.

"Down in Texas," Ryan replied. "Apparently Sarah ended up going to college down there and happened to volunteer at a soup kitchen where Zeke also happened to be volunteering at."

"So what...you thought something was going on between them?" Taylor directed this question to Sharpay.

"Well, no." Sharpay admitted. "Like I said, Saint Sarah would never even think of trying to date someone else's boyfriend, and Zeke is not a cheat."

"Then what was the problem? I mean, Zeke has been friends with me and Gabriella and Martha and Kelsi and you didn't care," Taylor reminded her. She noted the way Ryan seemed to wince at the mention of Kelsi and she raised an eyebrow. "I'm dealing with you next," she informed him. "But first things first." She turned her focus back to Sharpay. "What was the big deal with Sarah?"

"All of you have never been a threat," Sharpay started and then paused as her eyes narrowed. "At least not until Kelsi got drunk and married him."

"Both of them got drunk," Taylor interjected, gently. "That's why they got married."

"I still can't believe it," Sharpay sneered. "Zeke getting married to her of all people. How could he be so stupid?"

"Says the girl who started out this conversation asking herself the same question," Taylor quipped. "Face it Sharpay, all of you – you, Zeke, and Kelsi – all acted pretty moronically last night. Thanks in no small part to having too much to drink." Her tone softened at the look in Sharpay's eyes. "Everyone does stupid stuff sometimes."

"Not you," Sharpay muttered, causing Taylor to laugh.

"Believe me; I've done some stupid things myself. Like breaking up with Chad the last time we broke up," she admitted.

"Why did you break up with him then?" Sharpay asked.

"Oh who knows? It's me and Chad...that's part of what we do. Fight, break up, and get back together. Though..." Taylor trailed off.

"Though?" Sharpay echoed.

"We keep getting back together no matter how many times we break up, so maybe that means we need to make things more permanent," Taylor finished.

"You mean by getting married?" Sharpay wanted to know, her eyes lighting up when Taylor nodded. "So ask him to marry you already and get it over with."

"Oh no," Taylor laughed again. "If he wants to marry me, he's asking himself."

"How come? You're a smart, independent woman Taylor. Who says you can't be the one to ask?" Sharpay challenged.

"Because I'd much rather watch Chad suffer through it," Taylor said, honestly, a slightly evil smile on her face. "Though may I remind you that we are not gathered here to talk about my relationship with Chad? We're talking about you and Zeke," she reminded them. "Now. Sarah Henderson. What's the big deal?"

"She was a perfectly lovely girl," Sharpay started.

"From a perfectly lovely family," Taylor finished, rolling her eyes. Sharpay snickered in spite of herself.

"The Henderson's are what we'd consider to be old money," Sharpay continued. "Her parents both came from money, their parents came from money and so on. Usually those people are really stuck up and snobby but...well the Henderson's are different."

"How so?" Taylor asked.

"They have all of this money and power at their disposal, but they make their kids work anyway. It's...it's pretty different from how me and Ryan were raised," Sharpay confessed. "Anytime either of us wanted something, we got it. All we had to do was ask. Or," she winced ever so slightly, "in my case, I would usually just demand that I get my way. We had all the material goods anyone would ever want."

"Unfortunately," Ryan cut in, "sometimes our parents weren't always there for us when we needed them to be." He looked at Taylor. "But it's not that they don't really care about us, because they do. It's just a result of how _they_ were raised."

"Which was how?" Taylor looked back and forth between the twins.

"I don't know how much you or the others know about our parents, but you all probably assume that they both came from money too since we've always had so much of it. That's actually not true. Far from it in fact," he informed her.

"Our parents both came from working class families," Sharpay continued. "My dad's father worked in a factory all of his life while his mother would mend laundry from her neighbors to help make ends meet."

"Our mom's father was a roughneck on an oil rig," Ryan said, with a grin. "Dangerous job and back then the pay wasn't all that great. Her mom was the one that worked in a factory there. Money was tight for both sets of our grandparents more often than not. Most of the time they were able to pay all of the bills, but not always. As a result, our parents rarely got anything they wanted. They didn't have much money they could put away for things they didn't really need."

"And their parents spent a lot of their time working trying to pay the bills and not as much time at home," Sharpay added. "So they didn't really get too much in the way of emotional support either, though they knew their parents loved them."

"Growing up in that kind of environment made our parents want better for their children. They didn't want us to have to want for anything, so they gave us everything," Ryan nodded.

"You're telling me that your parents more or less created their own fortune?" Taylor asked. "That's really impressive."

"It is," Ryan agreed, smiling at her. "It took a lot of work for them to get to this point, but they made it. It's interesting. Growing up they both learned to value the importance of a gift. Anytime any of their parents could scrape together something special for them, it meant so much because it happened so rarely."

"I think it also meant a lot because they knew that anytime they got something they really wanted, it meant that money had to be tightened elsewhere to make up for it. Their parents would've given them the world if they could have," Sharpay said, with a smile.

"And so your parents gave you both the world and everything in it because they could," Taylor supplied.

"Exactly," Ryan said. "It's pretty much the exact opposite with Sarah Henderson and her siblings. Her parents are _able_ to give their kids expensive gifts and will every now and then, but they wanted them to learn the value of hard work. So once the kids were old enough, they would make them get jobs. If they wanted something, they would usually have to do what most teenagers have to do and save up their own money so they could get it."

"That's pretty cool," Taylor decided. "It seems like most rich people could care less about teaching their kids those kinds of values." She winced as she considered who she was talking to. "No offense..."

"It's okay, Taylor," Sharpay assured her. "Our parents knew the importance of hard work about as well as they could by watching their parents. They never wanted me and Ryan to have to work as hard as they did."

"I can understand that," Taylor said thoughtfully.

"The thing about the Henderson's, too, is that in a lot of ways they seem like the ideal family. They make it a point to be there for their kids anytime they're needed. They all support each other and are really very close," Ryan added. "Growing up it could be kind of hard to watch, actually."

"How come?" Taylor asked.

"Because as much as our parents love us," Sharpay took over, "they aren't always there for us. Showering us with material things is their way of showing love and it's all nice and stuff but...well sometimes I think I would have rather just be able to sit down and talk with them more," she admitted. Taylor was surprised, though she tried to hide it. There seemed to be a vulnerable side of Sharpay coming to the surface that she had never seen before. She must not have done a good job of hiding it, though, because Sharpay gave her a knowing smile.

"I know this might be hard to believe, but sometimes the lack of attention from our parents could make me feel a little insecure," Sharpay confessed. "Especially whenever I'd see Sarah and her family. It was always so obvious that they all loved each other."

"I never thought I'd hear you describe yourself as insecure," Taylor said, giving her a sheepish grin.

"The thing about Sharpay and I is that with our upbringing, it has always been pretty hard figuring out how to relate to other people," Ryan said. He gave his sister a playful nudge. "That's part of the reason why she became the so-called Ice Queen, at least in the beginning."

"It's true," Sharpay sighed. "It started out as an act. I could never understand why I couldn't just pay someone to be my friend instead of having to work for it. So I became a little diva."

"A _little_ diva?" Taylor asked, raising an eyebrow skeptically.

"Let's just say that at some point the persona took over," Sharpay shrugged. "That's what people expected and that's what they got." She nudged Ryan back. "I guess all of that is the reason me and him have always been so close. Our parents may not have always been there for us and we couldn't always relate to other people, but we had each other. I know that no matter what happens my little brother always has my back."

"That's very sweet," Taylor grinned at the two of them, causing Ryan to roll his eyes.

"Kind of makes you want to break out in song doesn't it?" he asked, though his tone was teasing. He turned to Sharpay. "And may I remind you, again, that you're only older by a few minutes? We're not talking years here."

"Older is older," she shot back. "Whether it's minutes or years. And I will have you know, _little_ brother, that in those few minutes I gained a level of wisdom that you have yet to reach."

"Gained a level of wisdom I have yet to reach?" he repeated. "Where in the world did you come up with that?"

"I have no idea," she admitted, with a laugh. "But it sounded good, didn't it? You should be grateful that you have such a fabulous big sister."

"Oh sure," he grinned at her, "a fabulous sister who once made me dress up like a fish."

"You were a Tiki warrior," she corrected.

"Who started out as a _fish_," he reminded her. "I looked ridiculous in that costume!"

"That was an added bonus," she said, with another giggle. She sobered as she studied him. "I know I made you do a lot of crazy stuff and haven't always treated you like I should, but at the end of the day I couldn't ask for a better brother. It's a wonder you put up with me through all these years. I love you, Ry," she said softly, her voice sincere. "You're the best friend I could ever have."

"Well I don't know about that," Ryan admitted. "But I love you too, Shar." He reached up to ruffle her hair impulsively, making her let out a sound of protest. "Even if you do occasionally make me dress up like marine animals." He shot her a look. "Though for the record, the whole fish thing? Never again."

"Yeah, well the whole messing up my hair thing?" she glared at him, though Taylor could tell she was trying not to smile. "Never again. It takes too long to get it just right."

"In any event," Taylor said, letting out a small laugh at the two of them. "Back to what we were originally talking about..." she trailed off, waiting for one of them to pick up the cue.

"Sarah Henderson," Ryan supplied.

"In a lot of ways Sarah was kind of like the anti-me," Sharpay started "She had to work for almost everything she wanted; I got it handed to me on a silver platter. She could always count on her parents; I couldn't." She let out a huff. "She always seemed to have a million friends, all of whom liked her for who she was and not what she could get for them. A lot of my friends growing up were only my friends because of all the perks that came along with it," she said, her tone suddenly bitter. She softened as she looked at Taylor. "Well...until I became friends with you all."

"That's where Zeke comes in," Taylor nodded to herself. "Isn't it?"

"Yes," Sharpay confirmed. "I didn't want to fall in love with him, but I did. He was so persistent and so cute and he made the best cookies in the world...how could I resist? And once I finally let my guard down around him it seemed so much easier to fit in with the rest of you. I don't know why, but it did." She paused and Taylor took note of the sudden sadness that came across Sharpay's face. "Maybe it's hard to believe but in some ways I was almost jealous of Sarah. She was everything I wasn't and nothing that I was. She has this goodness about her that would be sickening if it wasn't so sincere. I...well...I sometimes felt like I didn't measure up somehow. Not that I would ever admit that to anyone, of course." She gave Taylor a sad smile. "Appearances and all that."

"So what happened?" Taylor asked gently.

"I saw her with Zeke and I don't know..." She shook her head. "The two of them looked so good together. I could so easily see them as a couple. She's...she's the type of girl he _should_ be with. Seeing her with him made me wonder what in the world Zeke was doing with me. Me, a girl who usually has no problems plowing over other people to get what I want. The type of person who more often than not puts myself before everyone else. I...I don't know." She sighed again. "Zeke's such a wonderful man. He's kind and sweet and funny and genuine and did I mention that he makes the best cookies in the world? He's...he's everything I could ever want...and nothing that I deserve."

"Oh Sharpay," Taylor whispered, her heart going out to her. "That's not true."

"It's how I felt," Sharpay said, honestly. "All my life I had been feeling like I didn't measure up to Sarah and seeing her with Zeke was more than I could take. And then he proposed...later the same day even! It was such a sweet proposal too. I knew he had put so much thought and effort into it and I don't know...it was like with every word he said, the less deserving of him I felt. By the time he asked the actual question, I knew I couldn't accept. I thought he needed to be with someone like Sarah."

"He wanted you," Ryan said softly.

"I know," she said quietly, tears back in her eyes as she spoke. "I know he did, but I felt like he'd be settling for me when he could do so much better. So...so I told him I'd have to think about it. I went back to my hotel room and wrote him a letter telling him I couldn't marry him and I left."

"So," Taylor began, "obviously something changed if you've now decided you want him back."

"Yes," Sharpay nodded, giving her a small smile.

"What was it?" Taylor wanted to know.

"I may not deserve Zeke as much as Sarah does," Sharpay began, sounding more confident than she had previously, "but there is no way that she, or anyone else for that matter, could love him as much as I do. Leaving him was the dumbest thing I've ever done."

"I'll agree with that," Ryan interjected.

"Me too," Taylor said, shrugging at Sharpay. "Sorry."

"No, it's fine," Sharpay told her. "It's the truth. I've tried living without him in my life and I have to say it sucks. I want my baker boy back." She frowned. "Of course, him getting drunk and married kind of throws a wrench in my plans." Her frown deepened as she thought back to the confrontation she and Ryan had had with both Zeke and Kelsi. "That and the fact that he totally hates me now."

"He doesn't hate you, Sharpay," Taylor sighed. "He was just angry and overemotional." She gave first Sharpay and Ryan a look of disapproval. "Just like both of you were. All of you acted like little children."

"Can you blame us? He up and married Kelsi of all people!" Sharpay countered. "I might be all that deserving of Zeke, but I deserve him more than _she_ does."

"I know you're angry at Kelsi for what she did to Ryan but come on. What you did to Zeke wasn't much better," Taylor pointed out, forcing herself to keep her voice calm.

"I may have acted like a moron, but that doesn't change the fact that I love Zeke. I even told him so in the letter I wrote him. I may have broken his heart, but at least I loved him," Sharpay argued.

"Are you even listening to yourself?" Taylor asked. "That doesn't make any sense. You might love Zeke, but you broke his heart anyway. That's not exactly an act of love regardless of how undeserving of him you felt. I'm assuming you didn't tell him why you couldn't marry him...at least not the real reason you thought you couldn't. Am I right?"

"Yes, but," Sharpay started.

"But nothing," Taylor interrupted. "I feel for you Sharpay, really I do, but that doesn't make what you did to Zeke acceptable. You're going to have to make it up to him somehow, especially if you really do want him back and I believe you do." She paused. "Both you and Kelsi broke the hearts of the men you loved. You can't hate her for doing it because you yourself did the same thing."

"I already told you that leaving Zeke was the dumbest thing I've ever done," Sharpay pouted. "I fully intend on making it up to him. I hate myself for breaking Zeke's heart, but me and Kelsi did not do the same thing because at least my relationship with him was real."

"What and Kelsi and Ryan's wasn't?" Taylor shot back.

"No, it wasn't," Sharpay replied, leaving Taylor confused.

"What is she talking about?" Taylor directed this question to Ryan.

"Kelsi never loved me," he said bitterly. "She pretended she did so I could help her get into Juilliard and stayed with me because I was a pretty decent kisser, if I remember correctly. Which was apparently enough of a reason to keep me around...at least until someone better came along."

"See? It was all an illusion! Her feelings for him were never real. It was all an act," Sharpay cut in, shaking her head in disgust.

"You're not serious," Taylor said, incredulous. "Why would you say that?"

"Because it's the truth," Sharpay said matter-of-factly.

"And do you want to know how we know it's the truth?" Ryan asked and Taylor was taken aback by the sudden anger in his voice. "She told me so herself."

"She said all that?" Taylor's eyes widened.

"Among other things," he replied.

"I don't believe it," Taylor stated.

"I know how Kelsi comes across," Sharpay took over, "all sweet and innocent but it's all a lie. It's all a show."

"She does a pretty good job," Ryan growled. "She certainly had me fooled. I know it's hard to believe, Taylor, but it's the truth."

"No," Taylor shook her head. "I don't believe that you believed her."

"What?" he asked, confused.

"I don't know why she said all of those things to you, but they're not true," Taylor answered. "I know they're not."

"How?" he challenged.

"Because I've seen the way she looks at you. Both the way she did back while we were in high school and the way she looks at you now," she informed him.

"Which is how?" he demanded.

"She looks at you the same way Gabriella looks at Troy or how Martha looks at Jason or how I would assume I look at Chad or how Sharpay looks at Zeke when he's not looking," Taylor began. "With love."

"Oh please," Ryan mumbled, rolling his eyes.

"Trust me on this Ryan – that girl is hopelessly and desperately in love with you," Taylor declared. "Kelsi may have been lying to you all right, but if you ask me it was the day she told you she wasn't. I would put money on it."

"No....no, you didn't see her that day...she was telling me the truth, I know she was," he argued, though he couldn't help but be unnerved by the confidence he saw in her eyes. He frowned. "At least I think she was."


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Finally! It's been a long time since I've updated this so I am SO happy to finally be able to update. Hoping to get the next chapter up in a couple of days. Thanks for all the support so far everyone and a**** special thanks also to the couple of people who helped me sort out my many problems with this chapter! **I hope you all like it. Let me know what you think. :-)

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"_See Zeke? Both you and Ryan are basically good guys, but you both were wrong here. You should apologize to Sharpay at some point," Troy decided. _

"_Oh man," Zeke sighed. "How did everything get so messed up?"_

"That's what I want to know," Troy muttered. "What the heck happened between you and Sharpay?"

"Beats me," Zeke replied. "I thought our relationship was great and I totally thought that she would say yes when I proposed. Instead she freaks out and tells me that she needs to think about it. The next day there was a letter from her shoved under my door telling me that she loved me, but couldn't marry me. No explanation or anything. I tried to find her to talk to her, but she was gone. I had no idea where she went. Remember? I called all of you guys to see if any of you knew where she was."

"That was weird," Chad said, remembering. "It was like she was vanished off the face of the Earth or something."

"Tell me about it!" Zeke exclaimed. "I've been looking for that girl for years! I can't even tell you how many places I've gone to look. None of you knew anything and her family wasn't any help...that was the weirdest thing. I can't believe she didn't even tell _them_ where she was going!"

"Unless she did and asked them not to tell you," Troy pointed out.

"I don't know...in those early days of her disappearance..." Zeke shook his head. "They all seemed really worried about her. I really don't think she told any of them where she was going. At least not at first. I think she definitely did at some point though."

"I wonder if she was in one place or moving around," Chad said, somewhat absently.

"Who knows?" Zeke let out another sigh, this one of frustration.

"She was moving around," Troy said quietly, causing the rest of them to look at him in surprise. He held up his hands in defense. "I haven't been holding out on you, Zeke, I promise. I hadn't seen or heard from Sharpay in years until Gabriella and I happened to randomly run into her in San Diego a few weeks ago. She didn't tell us where she had been, but she did mention that she'd been moving around some."

"Figures," Zeke decided. "No wonder she's been so hard for me to track down."

"When's the last time you tried to find her?" Jason spoke up, curious.

"The last trip was a couple of months ago," Zeke answered. "The last round of phone calls to her family was a few weeks ago." He let out a mostly humorless chuckle. "Wanna hear something ironic?"

"What?" Chad asked.

"I called Ryan as soon as I heard about the wedding and this week in Vegas...I already knew that Sharpay was going to be here and I told him that I planned to do whatever possible to get her back while we were all out here," Zeke informed the rest of them, shaking his head again. "I think Ryan has known where she's been the longest out of anyone, but I've never been able to get him to tell me anything. She probably asked him not to. It's funny though...I think he was torn between wanting to keep her location a secret and wanting to help me. I think he thinks that I'm good for his sister."

"If that's true, can you really blame him for how he reacted when he heard about you marrying Kelsi?" Troy asked, sounding thoughtful.

"I don't think I follow," Zeke admitted, looking slightly confused.

"Well think about it," Troy began. "Ryan comes to Vegas assuming that you're going to try to get Sharpay back. He's in favor of the idea because he thinks you're good for her...then he comes down here today in time to hear you announce to the rest of us that you had gotten married. It may have been because you were drunk, but I figure that little detail wouldn't matter to Ryan – not at first, anyway. He'd be too busy being pissed off that the guy who supposedly loves Sharpay up and married another woman. He probably saw it as a betrayal. Of course he'd want to protect his sister, so he goes on the offensive for her."

"Supposing that's true," Zeke cut in, "then explain why he had to be so horrible to Kelsi."

"Because he decided he was going to stick up for Sharpay and she started attacking Kelsi first," Troy replied before pausing briefly. "Add in the fact that not only did you betray his sister in his eyes, you also did it with his ex-girlfriend. A girl he was totally in love with and committed to." He nodded, growing more and more convinced that he was right. "That's part of it too. I don't know what happened between Ryan and Kelsi, but I know that it was bad and that it really messed him up. My guess is that seeing her again has brought all of the leftover emotion over what happened between them to the surface, which didn't help."

"You know...I feel sorry for the guy," Chad said. "Kelsi was everything to Ryan. He really loved her and she ended up hurting him," he frowned. "I can't even imagine what could've happened to make her want to hurt him in the first place. I thought she loved him too."

"She did," Troy confirmed. "Don't you all remember the way she seemed to light up whenever he was around? She couldn't hide her feelings for him; they were too obvious."

"Then why'd she hurt him so bad?" Chad countered. "He hasn't been the same since."

"That I don't know," Troy said, honestly. "But that kind of proves my point – Ryan is not the same person he was before he and Kelsi broke up. Losing her pushed him close to the edge and I think her being married to Zeke sent him over it." He raked a hand through his hair in disbelief. "This whole thing is so far past being messed up." He looked back at Zeke. "Again, I'm not saying that Ryan was right in how he reacted because he wasn't...but I think I can see where he's coming from."

"Okay, so maybe he sees me marrying Kelsi as somehow betraying Sharpay. I can see that, actually," Zeke acknowledged, "and maybe it's worse because Kelsi is his ex-girlfriend. But again, why did he have to be so hateful towards her? He wants to attack me, fine, whatever, but why'd be have to be so awful to her? Even if he is still upset over whatever she did to him. How could she have hurt him to the point where he actually hates her?"

"Who said he hates her?" Jason asked after a moment. "I don't think he does. Far from it, if you ask me. I think he's still in love with her."

"You have got to be kidding," Zeke said, sounding skeptical. "If he was still in love with her, he could never be so hateful towards her."

"Who said the opposite of love was hate?" Jason said, suddenly. "I don't think it is. I think they're actually closer than most people think they are."

"Yeah? Then what would you say the opposite of love is?" Chad asked.

"Apathy or fear," Jason answered. "It's probably both. See...the way I figure it, a lot of people hate out of fear...fear of the unknown or whatever. In which case, the real problem is fear, not hate. It's easy to think of hate being the opposite of love, but it's more of the result of fear. You can't love someone if you're afraid of them. Not really."

"What about apathy?" Troy wanted to know, intrigued by Jason's argument.

"How is that the opposite of love?" Jason clarified. "Easy. Love and hate are both really intense emotions – both take a lot of time and effort to keep up. One may be a good thing and the other may be a bad thing, but the bottom line is that you're still invested in that person. Apathy is kind of the opposite of both. It seems to me that the opposite of a really intense emotion would be the lack of any emotion." Several seconds passed while all of the former Wildcats looked at him in complete and total shock as they all tried to wrap their minds around the fact that this insightful observation came from _Jason_ of all people. Recognizing the looks on their faces, Jason bristled. "Oh yeah...I can be deep."

"But what does that have to do with Ryan?" Zeke inquired.

"Don't you get it?" Jason sighed. "He's in love with Kelsi, but scared of getting hurt again so he lashes out as a way to protect himself." His eyes narrowed as his friends somehow managed to look more incredulous than they had moments before.

"Okay, who are you and what have you done with Jason?" Troy demanded, shaking his head in wonder. "Since when did you become so smart?"

"Since he married Martha," Chad quipped. "The girl has done wonders for his brain. I think it actually sort of works now."

"Hey!" Jason protested.

--------------------------------

"_Trust me on this Ryan – that girl is hopelessly and desperately in love with you," Taylor declared. "Kelsi may have been lying to you all right, but if you ask me, it was the day she told you she wasn't. I would put money on it."_

"_No....no, you didn't see her that day...she was telling me the truth, I know she was," he argued, though he couldn't help but be unnerved by the confidence he saw in her eyes. He frowned. "At least I think she was."_

"Do you really think that Kelsi is capable of faking her feelings throughout an entire relationship?" Taylor challenged. "The same Kelsi who used to be too terrified of Sharpay to even stick up for herself?"

"People change," Ryan said weakly, causing Taylor to roll her eyes in response.

"Not that much that quickly," she argued. "Unless they were on drugs or something, and I think we can all agree that Kelsi may be many things, but a junkie is not one of them."

"Well I'll give you that," Ryan agreed.

"Seriously," Sharpay muttered. "I practically had to force that first shot down her throat last night."

"I have a question for you both. Supposing that Kelsi did lie about loving Ryan, which I don't believe," Taylor began suddenly as Sharpay's comment triggered a new train of thought. She barely resisted a smirk as she continued. "But let's just assume that you're right about that. How far do you think her act went?"

"What do you mean?" Ryan asked, frowning.

"Well you know, Kelsi was always really shy and quiet back in school. She was always pretty terrified of Sharpay and all that. Do you think that was the real Kelsi, or do you think she was pretending the entire time?" Taylor asked, plowing ahead before either of them could answer. "Remember, Juilliard wasn't even in the picture until our senior year, so let's focus on how she was up until that point. Don't either of you remember the way Kelsi would physically cower every time Sharpay yelled at her?" Taylor focused her gaze on Sharpay. "What about every time you stole one of her songs and then were always able to get her to change them to suit your needs? She was never able to stand up to you, at least not by herself. She could never say no to you unless she had other people backing her up, and even then it was hard for her. That couldn't have been an act and you both know it. There would have been no reason for her to put on such a show because there wasn't anything on the line for her back then. "

"That's right," Sharpay cut in. "There _wasn't_ anything on the line for her back then, but ambition makes people do crazy things. Look at some of the stuff I did."

"Even so," Taylor shook her head. "There is no way Kelsi could have gone from being so scared of you to manipulating your brother in a matter of months. Wouldn't she know how furious you would be if she found out? Not only would she be messing with Ryan's feelings, she'd also be actively trying to steal the Juilliard scholarship from you. You, who as you just reminded me, would do just about anything to get what you wanted. Weren't you saying earlier that you usually have no problem plowing over people to get what you want? Wouldn't you fight that much harder if you knew someone was purposely trying to take what you wanted away from you?" She smirked. "You don't have to answer that, we all know what the answer is. You would have tried to destroy Kelsi and she would've known that. There is no way she would've risked facing your wrath."

"What about the sign up sheet for the musical our senior year? When she signed the rest of you up to keep it from being a one woman, namely me, show? Wasn't that manipulative?" Sharpay challenged.

"First of all, the show we ended up with is so much better than whatever you would've come up with on your own. Even as talented as you are. Second of all, she wasn't trying to kick you out of the show, so she wasn't really manipulating _against_ you. And third of all, don't you guys remember how she reacted when Ms. Darbus saw the sheet and commented on how happy she was that all of us had signed up? If my memory serves me right, she sank as low into her chair as physically possible for the rest of homeroom and bolted as soon as the bell rang because she was scared of how we'd all react." Taylor let out a short laugh. "If anything you just helped further prove my point. That couldn't have been an act, either, because we still didn't find out about the scholarship until later and you both saw how shocked she was to find out she was in the running for it. So that makes the idea of her using Ryan to get into Juilliard all the more ridiculous as far as I'm concerned." Taylor shifted her focus over to Ryan, changing gears. "Let me ask you something, Ryan. How did Kelsi behave when she broke up with you?"

"She was horrible to him!" Sharpay interjected before Ryan could so much as open his mouth. "She said a lot of really hurtful and really harsh things to him for no reason."

"Is your name Ryan?" Taylor asked, pointedly, causing Sharpay to fall silent. "Let me try this again. Ryan, and _only_ Ryan, how did Kelsi behave when she broke up with you? You listened to the words that she said, but were you paying attention to the way she said them? What about her body language? Was she making eye contact or was she looking somewhere else? I know this may be hard for you to do, but I want you to remain as objective as possible."

"She seemed different that day," Ryan began, forcing himself to think back and struggling to keep his emotions out of out. "She was obviously upset and I remember trying to make her feel better, but it wasn't working."

"How'd she sound?" Taylor prompted when he paused.

"She was pretty quiet at first, but then her voice changed..." He shook his head. "It was like someone had flipped a switch or something. One second she seemed upset and scared and the next she was harsh and cold," he frowned, remembering. "I'd never heard her sound like that before..." he trailed off, not wanting to share what had just occurred to him and knowing that Taylor would find a way to get it out of him. He let out a long sigh. "Actually, now that I'm thinking about it her harshness seemed a little forced. It didn't really seem natural."

"Like she was putting on an act?" Taylor asked, knowingly.

"Kind of," he admitted. "I remember her voice broke at one point."

"What else?"

"She was having a hard time making eye contact. She would keep looking at me for a second or two and then dropping her gaze to the floor or the wall behind me. I had to prompt her to look at me at the end. See, I thought that she owed it to me to look at me when she said goodbye to me and she didn't look up at first. I remember telling her I was going to wait until she did." Ryan found himself wincing at the memory which suddenly seemed quite different once he tried to remove his feelings from it.

"What'd she do next?" Taylor asked.

"Closed her eyes for a moment, almost like she was in pain and then slowly looked up at me. Her eyes..."

"What about them?" Taylor pushed.

"She looked like she was about to cry," he answered, quietly.

"You knew Kelsi very well. You seemed to have developed a talent for reading her once the two of you started dating. You guys seemed to be so in tune with each other, so tell me something," Taylor said, gently. "When you look back, do her actions that day seem genuine or do they seem forced?" Several second passed as Ryan hesitated, letting his memories of that day filter back through his head a few more times.

"They seem forced," he said in a near whisper, noting the glimpse of triumph that flashed in Taylor's eyes.

"Okay," Taylor nodded, shifting her focus back over to Sharpay. "Now let me ask _you_ something. How did Kelsi seem last night?"

"Like herself," Sharpay said, shrugging lightly.

"So she seemed like the same girl we went to high school with," Taylor restated. "Is that what you're saying?"

"Yeah, I guess. Why?" Sharpay asked.

"Because if the two of you were right and if Kelsi really did change from the shy, sweet, scared girl she used to be into a manipulative, cruel person who would use Ryan to get a scholarship," Taylor started, "then why would she revert back to the way she used to be now? If the person she was when she broke up with Ryan was who she _really_ was, than why would she suddenly pretend to be the same shy, sweet, scared girl we knew in high school? What would be the point?" Taylor looked back and forth between the Evans twins. "Well? Can either of you answer that question?" She let out a short laugh that was mostly devoid of humor. "You can't, can you? Because the answer to that question is that there wouldn't be a point. She would have no reason to hide who she really was anymore, and you both know it." She focused her attention back on Ryan and deliberately softened her tone. "I don't know what she said to you that day, though I can tell that she hurt you very badly and I'm sorry. I really am. But is it possible that maybe the reason she broke up with you was _not_ because she didn't really love you, but because of another reason?" She reached out to put her hand on his shoulder and softened her voice even further. "And if the answer to that question is yes, then do you have any idea what that other reason could be?"

"Kelsi's mom left her dad. Maybe Kelsi's just carrying out the family tradition," Sharpay muttered under her breath, the words coming out before she could filter them. She winced slightly and hoped that Ryan hadn't heard her.

"What?" Taylor asked, confused.

"Kelsi's mom," Ryan whispered. Sharpay closed her eyes, frustrated with herself, as she watched as her brother's face lit up with an understanding that made her nervous. "I can't believe I never thought about that."


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Not really a long chapter, especially not going by my usual length but oh well. I really don't care since I'm surprisingly happy with the way this turned out. This chapter is sort of serving as a starting point for a lot of things to come so I hope you all like it. I usually babble on for longer in this notes but to be perfectly honest, I am utterly exhausted at the moment. Will be back later to look for any mistakes, but this'll do for now. I just wanted to update this already! Thanks to my wonderful powwow ladies for all of their help and support - I love and appreciate all of you. And thanks to everyone who has been reading this and/or reviewing. Enjoy!**

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"I'm so sorry about all of this, Gabriella," Kelsi sniffled. "We're all here to celebrate your marriage to Troy, and I've just made a big mess of everything."

"No you haven't. It's okay," Gabriella said softly.

"No, it's really not," Kelsi shook her head. "We should all be focusing on the wedding."

"The wedding isn't for a few days," Gabriella argued. "This week is about all of us."

"Even so," Kelsi countered. "It's still a mess and it's all my fault."

"It is not all your fault," Martha cut in. "You might be a part of this mess, but certainly not the only part. I can think of a few other guilty parties. Three in particular."

"The same three I'm thinking about, no doubt," Gabriella nodded. "Don't worry, Kelsi. Everything is going to work out sooner or later."

"Gabriella's right," Martha agreed. "You know what this is like?"

"What?" Kelsi asked.

"It's like you're in the middle of a huge storm and things are kind of scary and uncertain right now, and that's okay. It's only natural given everything that's happened. But eventually things are going to clear up and the skies will be blue again," she said, giving Kelsi a small smile.

"Exactly," Gabriella smiled.

"I hope so," Kelsi said, biting her lip. Several seconds passed by in silence as Kelsi seemed to be working up the nerve to say something. "Guys...I have a question for you."

"What's that?" Martha wanted to know.

"What's Ryan been up to these past few years?" Kelsi blurted the question out before she could reconsider asking. "Where's he working? Is he...is he dating anyone?" Martha and Gabriella glanced at each other over the top of Kelsi's head.

"Well, he got a job at a dance studio for a little while after you guys...well, after you left." Martha began. "Ryan really threw himself into his dancing...it was kind of like..." she trailed off.

"Like what?" Kelsi asked.

"Like he had something to prove," Gabriella answered quickly. "He went on a lot of auditions and got cast as Billy Flynn's understudy in 'Chicago'...got to go on a bunch too."

"Wow...that's great! Good for him," Kelsi smiled in spite of herself. Ryan had lived out his dream to perform on Broadway.

"He did it for about three years," Martha smiled. "Jason and I saw him one of the nights he went on as Billy Flynn. He was incredible."

"That doesn't surprise me," Kelsi nodded. "I would've loved to be able to see him. I..." Kelsi found herself going silent as it occurred to her that if she had not left Ryan all those years ago that she would have. "What about a...what about a girlfriend?" she asked a few moments later, her voice now subdued.

"Well..." Gabriella started, looking back at Martha. "He doesn't have a girlfriend right now."

"Actually," Martha cut in, choosing her words carefully. "He hasn't had one in quite some time. Not since..."

"Not since what?" Kelsi pressed. Her voice was so soft they could barely hear her, almost as if she already anticipated what the answer would be.

"Not since you," Gabriella said softly.

"Oh come on guys," Kelsi stammered. "Surely there's been someone else since then. It's been five years after all."

"He's been on a few dates here and there, I think. Mostly because someone forced him to go on them but..." Martha shook her head. "I think it's safe to say that they were all first dates. He...he never seemed to be interested in taking it any further than that."

"But...but why?" Kelsi looked back and forth between the two of them. Gabriella and Martha exchanged another look, each one reluctant to tell Kelsi the truth: Ryan had been so deeply hurt by Kelsi's actions, that he had more or less vowed to never let anyone get close enough to hurt him like that ever again. That and the fact that as much as his words and actions said otherwise, both of the girls couldn't help but feel that Ryan was still in love with Kelsi. Even after what she had done, and all the time that had passed.

"Because he's never stopped loving you," Gabriella said gently.

"N-no...Ryan hates me," Kelsi whispered.

"I think he's angry and hurt...understandably so. I think he's confused and probably has about a dozen other emotions swirling around in there on a regular basis." Martha sounded thoughtful. "But if you ask me, all that stuff is doing is hiding the truth. Ryan is still in love with you, Kelsi. I'm positive he is."

"So am I," Gabriella agreed.

----------------------------

"What about Kelsi's mom?" Taylor asked Ryan, intrigued by the direction their conversation had suddenly taken.

"Her mom walked out on Kelsi and her dad when Kelsi was five," Ryan said softly. "She...she never liked to talk about it."

"Hmm...I forgot about that," Taylor said, her voice pensive. "How Kelsi didn't like to talk about it, I mean." She paused as she thought of something. "Did you ever try to get her to talk about it?"

"A couple of times," Ryan nodded. "Kelsi just, I don't know...that was always a really touchy subject."

"Ryan...do you think Kelsi ever dealt with her mom's leaving?" Taylor asked.

"No," he said quickly. "I always thought that the reason she didn't like talking about it was because she never got over it."

"That's definitely possible," Taylor agreed. She took a deep breath as she studied him. "Would it interest you to know that Kelsi started seeing a therapist shortly after she left you?"

"What?" Ryan asked, slightly confused. "How do you know that?"

"Because when you guys broke up, we were all stunned. I remember calling her about it to try and see what happened, and all she told me was that it was bad and that she had some issues. She didn't tell me what they were and I didn't pry. But I did advise her to see a therapist. And, unless I'm mistaken, so did her father," Taylor informed him, annoyed with herself for not remembering that detail sooner.

"And she went?" Ryan wanted to know.

"She did," Taylor confirmed. "She went for a while, I think. Of course..."

"Of course what?" he asked.

"She eventually stopped going, though I'm not sure why. Sometimes people can stop going to therapy once they work out issues, once the therapist determines that they don't need it anymore," Taylor answered. "But I got the impression from Martha that it was Kelsi who just decided to stop going. I don't know...I could be way off here, but my guess is that something came up in therapy that she didn't want to deal with."

"And this involves my brother how?" Sharpay demanded.

"Kelsi wasn't herself when she broke up with him. Obviously something had to be pretty wrong with her for her to agree to go to therapy to try to work it out," Taylor replied. She turned her attention back to Ryan. "I think it might have something to do with her mom. I mean, the woman walked out on her and her dad when she was a little girl. There's no telling how much damage that could do to a child. Maybe Kelsi was scared of becoming her mother, but felt like she didn't have a choice. Maybe the reason she left you was because she thought she was protecting you somehow."

"Protecting me?" Ryan scoffed. "From what?"

"Herself?" Taylor shrugged. "I mean...let's go back to what happened with Zeke and Sharpay for a second. In a lot of ways, Sharpay left him because she loved him too much. She left him because she thought he deserved better. Maybe Kelsi left you for the same reason. Maybe she saw herself as damaged or unlovable. Kelsi's mother couldn't have loved her if she was willing to leave her."

"That doesn't mean she was unlovable," Ryan argued. "That means her mother was a terrible person."

"Careful Ryan, you're almost defending Kelsi," Taylor smiled. "You're right, of course. But it's easy for us to see that since we're not emotionally involved. What's obvious to us might not be so obvious to Kelsi. In any event, maybe Kelsi didn't feel worthy of you or maybe she just felt like she was destined to leave you."

"What, like leaving people is in her blood?" Ryan asked, mostly sarcastically.

"Not the way I was going to say it, but yes. Behaviors can be passed down from one generation to the next. Look at alcoholism – a lot of times people become alcoholics because one or both of their parents were one. Or physical abuse. Sometimes people who were abused as children become abusers themselves," Taylor pointed out. "Maybe it's the same kind of thing with Kelsi's family." She gave him a sad smile. "I know that Kelsi loved you while you were dating and I know that she loves you still. I can see it very clearly from the way she looks at you, like I said earlier. We all saw the way you guys were together. Unless I miss my guess I would bet that you were even planning on proposing to her at some point. Am I right?"

"Yes," Ryan said quietly.

"I bet she would've said yes," Taylor said softly. "I bet she would've said yes in a heartbeat and, if I'm right about everything else, that probably scared her to death."

"Why?" Sharpay interjected. Taylor looked over in surprise, and noticed that Sharpay actually seemed interested in what the answer would be.

"Easy. If I'm right, Kelsi was scared of turning out like her mother. I'm sure that her dad was pretty heartbroken when his wife left him. Kelsi would've had to deal with that and probably would have hated seeing him in so much pain." Taylor turned her attention back to Ryan. "I bet it just about killed Kelsi to treat you as badly as she did, knowing how much she loved you. She had to know how much you loved her – maybe she even suspected you were going to propose. If she felt like she was destined to leave you, maybe she thought it wouldn't hurt you as much if she did it before she married you. Her father never remarried did he? I don't remember Kelsi even talking about him ever seeing anyone. Maybe Kelsi thought that if she married you and then left you, that you would turn out like her dad did and never love anyone again. Maybe she thought you'd have an easier time moving on if she left sooner as opposed to later."

"That's ridiculous. She was everything to Ryan. There's no way he could ever love anyone else," Sharpay shook her head. "Not the way he loved her."

"Don't you mean the way he loves her?" Taylor challenged. "I don't believe he ever stopped. Am I right?" She directed the question to Ryan and took note of the way his eyes had suddenly become guarded.

"No, you're not," he replied. "I...I don't still love Kelsi."

"Yeah right," Sharpay muttered. "You're totally still in love with her. I don't know how that's even possible considering what she did, but you do."

"I don't love Kelsi," he repeated, though he didn't sound overly confident. "Not anymore."

"Ryan, I hate to break this to you, but denial isn't just a river in Egypt." Taylor argued. "You might not be ready to admit that you're still in love with her, but you are. Look, I don't know if what I've said is right or not. The only person who can tell you for certain is Kelsi." Taylor paused. "And possibly Martha, who I think knows more about the situation. But even if she does, Kelsi's still the only person who can give you the complete and total truth. I think you owe it to both you and Kelsi to find out exactly what the truth is. I think it's extremely possible that you'll find what I've said to be true."

"Even if it is, that still doesn't excuse what she did," Ryan commented.

"No it doesn't," Taylor agreed. "I'm not trying to excuse her behavior, Ryan. I'm trying to explain it. I don't agree with what she did to you either. If I am right about all of this then she should have talked to you about it instead of running away." She focused her gaze on Sharpay. "Just like you should have done with Zeke. The bottom line is that both of you need to talk to Zeke and Kelsi. Ryan, you need to go looking for the truth and Sharpay, you need to tell Zeke the truth. Maybe in the process you'll both realize that your respective relationships aren't as over as you thought they were." She looked back and forth between them. "If nothing else, maybe you'll both finally have some peace."

"Maybe you're right, Taylor," Ryan said thoughtfully. "Maybe you're right. It would be nice to be able to put this all behind me. Maybe knowing the truth would help."

"It will." Taylor's voice was confident. "You've spent the last five years being angry and bitter and hurt, largely because you don't know what went wrong. I have no doubt that finally knowing will be a huge help." She studied him. "Let me ask you one more thing right now, Ryan. If I am right...about why she left you and about her feelings for you. If everything I have said ends up being correct, including the fact that I think you're still in love with her...do you think you'll try to get her back?"

"_If_ I was still in love with her, the answer to that question would be yes," Ryan replied after a long moment. "But seeing as I'm not..." he trailed off. "I just want the truth. Nothing more and nothing less." He stood up somewhat abruptly and glanced down at where Taylor and Sharpay were still sitting. "If you ladies will excuse me, I think I might just try to hunt down some truth right now." With that said, he turned and headed back down the hallway towards the lobby, leaving the two women alone.

"Mark my words Taylor," Sharpay said as she watched her brother walk away, "if you're right about Kelsi and why she left and if she is still in love with him, he will do everything in his power to get her back. I just know it."

"So do I," Taylor grinned at her. "I just wonder how long he can continue to deny his feelings for her."

"I guess we'll have to wait and see," Sharpay shrugged.

"Tell me something, Sharpay...how would you feel if we both end up being right and Ryan decides to try and win Kelsi back?" Taylor asked, suddenly curious. Several moments passed while Sharpay pondered the question.

"Well...and it kills me to admit this, but if you're right about why Kelsi left...and I don't completely believe that you are...but if you are," Sharpay sighed. "If you are, then Kelsi and I really _did_ do the same thing, like you said we did." She shuddered. "You have no idea how much I hate admitting that."

"Oh I think I do," Taylor chuckled. "And I think it shows remarkable maturity that you admitted it anyway."

"Well thanks," Sharpay gave her a small smile. "But if it ends up that me and Kelsi did the same thing, than it'd be pretty messed up for me to keep hating her because than I'd kind of have to hate myself too. Which I kind of do, actually," Sharpay wrinkled her nose. "I don't know...in that case I guess I'd have to get over my bitterness towards her and root for her and Ryan." She made a face. "Another thing I hate to admit."

"You know what? I don't think you give yourself enough credit sometimes. You have shown a lot of growth and maturity throughout this entire conversation and I have to say that I'm impressed. I think you're a better person than you think you are and I think it's time for you to realize it," Taylor said sincerely. "I really do."

"I appreciate that. A lot. Thank you," Sharpay gave her another smile, this one wider than her previous one, and then got to her feet. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" Taylor asked, feeling a little confused. "To find Zeke?"

"Nope," Sharpay answered, surprising her. "To find Kelsi."

"Wait...what?" Taylor was stunned. "You want to find Kelsi? Why?"

"To find out the truth," Sharpay replied. "I was just as shocked over their break up as the rest of you were. Up until Kelsi left him, I really did believe that she loved my brother. I want to know if she did and I want to know if you're right." Her eyes narrowed with fresh determination. "And I want to know now."


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: I almost feel like an updating machine lately, though this chapter has been a while in the making. I am putting a mild language advisory on this chapter, along with one for violence. It gets really intense and even scary in here (to say the least) and we see a side of Ryan that I have never seen shown before. It's not a good side...the exact opposite in fact, though his motivations are good. You'll see what I mean. I'm thinking that this will end up being a pretty fast update since the next chapter is starting to come along very nicely so far. No promises when it'll be up but it should be within a few days so be on the lookout for that. I feel like I've sort of gotten back into my groove writing, which is a good thing - not just for this story but all of them. Thanks to everyone who has been reading and/or reviewing so far! Hope you all like this chapter. Let me know!**

**Thanks to the ladies who helped me out with this chapter! Y'all were a huge help. :)**

* * *

"I'm so confused," Kelsi moaned. "I think I need to get some air," she decided, glancing first at Martha and then Gabriella.

"Want us to come with you?" Martha asked.

"No...thank you," Kelsi replied. "I just need some time alone to think...and besides, you two should probably find the rest of the group to see what everyone is up to."

"That's not a bad idea," Gabriella nodded as she led the way out of the bathroom. "And see how everyone is doing." At her words Kelsi winced.

"You think he'll be out there?" she asked. "Ryan, I mean."

"It's possible," Martha nodded, giving her a look of sympathy. "But you're going to have to face him sooner or later, you know?"

"I know...I'd just rather it was later," Kelsi sighed, pulling ahead from the other two as they walked.

"If you ask me it should be sooner," Gabriella whispered to Martha.

"Same here," Martha murmured as they reached the lobby and found most of the other Wildcats talking – everyone but Ryan, Sharpay and Taylor. "Looks like Kelsi might get her wish after all. Wonder where he is?"

"Or Sharpay for that matter," Gabriella added, focusing her attention on Zeke.

"Welcome back, ladies," Troy said cautiously as the three women approached. "Everything okay?" He directed the question to Gabriella but inclined his head toward Kelsi.

"For the moment," Gabriella replied, giving Troy a pointed look. He nodded in response as he caught onto what Gabriella must have been thinking: everything was calm for now, but there was more than likely more drama to come.

"Are you okay?" Zeke asked Kelsi softly.

"Not really," she admitted. "Are you?"

"Not really," he shrugged, giving her a sheepish smile. "Um, I guess we need to figure out what to do about our...well..." He took a gulp before continuing. "Our marriage."

"That would probably be good..." she agreed.

"You can get an annulment," Gabriella offered. "That's probably the best way to go about it and I'm sure it'll be easy enough to get one, especially considering that this is Las Vegas. You'll just have to find a courthouse or somewhere like that."

"Sounds like a good idea to me," Zeke nodded. "Do...do you want to go take care of that now? Or what?" He waited patiently while Kelsi chewed on her lip.

"Actually...do you mind if we go later? After lunch maybe? Right now I just...I just want to get some fresh air and be alone for a while...I have a lot to think about," she said honestly. "If that's okay with you."

"It is," he assured her. "Hey, Kelsi?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm...I'm sorry about all of this...getting drunk, getting married...what happened with..." he trailed off at the look on her face. "What happened earlier...I'm really sorry."

"Me too," she said softly, giving him a weak smile before looking at each of the other former Wildcats in turn. "I think I'm going to go now..." she said awkwardly.

"Do you have your cell phone?" Chad spoke up. "Just in case?"

"Yes, Dad," she teased him, making him chuckle.

"Hey, Taylor would kill me if she found out we let you go walking on the streets of Vegas alone, without asking if you had your cell with you," he pointed out. "And besides...we gotta look out for each other, you know?"

"Yeah...I know," she nodded.

"That's right," Troy cut in. "We may not all be as close as we used to be but that doesn't matter. Once a Wildcat always a Wildcat, remember? That means that we always have each other's backs...no matter what happens." Kelsi felt her eyes well up with tears as she looked around the group again, knowing that in their own ways Troy and Chad were letting her and Zeke know that the group would be there for them throughout all of the problems they had inadvertently caused. Just like they would also be there for Ryan and Sharpay. Troy and Chad didn't have to say the words, but Kelsi was positive that that was what they had meant.

"I...I love you guys," she said simply. It had suddenly become very important for her to let them all know that. "I've kind of lost touch over the years but...I love you guys."

"We love you too, Kelsi," Martha smiled at her.

"Be careful," Zeke added, impulsively giving her a sideways hug.

"I will," she promised, giving them all a little wave as she headed outside.

"Hey guys?" Zeke said a few seconds later as they all watched her head down the street. "I think I need some time to think as well...meet up with you all later?"

"Sure, man," Troy nodded. Zeke gave the group a wave, much like Kelsi had, and headed back in the direction of the elevators – more than likely returning to his hotel room.

"Think she'll be okay?" Chad asked no one in particular.

"She's dealing with a lot right now," Gabriella said thoughtfully. "There's a bunch of things that she needs to take care of and sort through, and it's going to be hard for her." She lifted her eyes to Chad's and gave him an encouraging smile. "But I know that she'll be okay."

"Just like Zeke will," Troy chimed in.

"And Sharpay," Martha piped up.

"And Ryan," Chad put in.

"That's right," Gabriella beamed at the group as a whole. "All four of them will be okay and you know why? Because you and Troy were right...we're not as close as we used to be, but we'll be there to help them through it. We support each other...no matter what happens," she finished, echoing Troy's words from earlier.

"Then I guess there's only one thing left for me to say," Chad grinned. "What team?"

Grins split across the varying faces as an exuberant "Wildcats!" echoed throughout the lobby.

----------------------------

Kelsi let out a heavy sigh as she walked down what was referred to in Las Vegas as "The Strip". She knew she was more than likely passing some of the most famous buildings in the city but she was too distracted to pay much attention. She didn't think she had ever been more confused in her entire life. She had known that seeing Ryan again would be difficult, but she'd had no idea of just how difficult it would be. She winced as she thought back to the earlier confrontation. Harsh words had been said all around, and looking back it was blatantly obvious that none of them had handled the situation well.

Though to be fair, she thought absently, she wasn't sure if there was any other way they could've handled it. There were still too many hurt feelings and too much anger among the four of them, that Kelsi doubted that they would've been capable of a calm and rational discussion. Especially considering that Sharpay was involved and Sharpay was...well...Sharpay. The fact that Kelsi and Zeke had gotten drunk and married the night before had only made what would've been a bad situation anyway about twenty times worse. It was pretty clear to Kelsi that there were a lot of conversations to be had between various people in their little foursome, all of which would be very difficult. The last thing Kelsi wanted to do was talk to either of the Evans twins, but as she walked she realized that she had to find the courage to talk to both of them sometime that week. If nothing else, to get them on a somewhat cordial level of communication so they wouldn't ruin the wedding.

She let out another heavy sigh at the thought. As hard as it would be for her, it was something she knew she had to do at some point. Troy and Gabriella meant too much to her for her to be involved in anything that might take away from the reason they had all gathered in Vegas in the first place. What had happened so far was bad enough, and Kelsi knew she would feel bad about it for the entire week. They simply could not afford having another incident like the one they'd had that morning, if only out of love and respect for Troy and Gabriella. And it would be nice to try to remove some of the open hostility that currently existed among the foursome.

Kelsi had been so lost in her thoughts and ponderings that she hadn't heard the man that was fast approaching until he called out. "Hey cutie!" She came to a stop at the voice, nearly crashing into the man in the process. She fought the urge to wrinkle her nose as she studied him. He was about Chad's height with dark greasy looking hair and a somewhat husky build, sort of like a football player, but not quite as muscular. "Fancy seeing you again!" At his next comment she studied him more closely and bit back a gasp as she realized that this was the man who she had danced with at the club the night before. The first one that Martha had said Ryan had gotten her away from.

"Oh...um...hello," she said, feeling uncomfortable. She fingered the cell phone in her pocket discreetly, wondering how fast she could pull it out if he tried anything.

"Why so shy?" he asked and there was something in the tone of her voice that sent a shiver down her spine. "You weren't so shy last night."

"Well...well I had been drinking..." she managed.

"Yeah and we were having ourselves a grand old time," he grinned, his eyes raking slowly down her body as he spoke, making her even more uncomfortable. "At least we were until that blond guy showed up and ruined it." His eyes met hers again and she found herself gulping in response. "Was that your boyfriend?"

"No," she said quickly. "We...we went to high school together..." she stammered, inadvertently taking a step backward just as he took one toward her.

"He seemed pretty protective of you," the man sneered. Kelsi didn't have a reply for that comment so she took another step backward as his sneer slowly turned into an evil smile. "I don't like when other guys barge in when I'm with a cutie like you...it just messes things up, ya know? But it doesn't look like Blondie's here now, does it...lucky for us, wouldn't you say?"

"Um...I have to go...My friends will be waiting for me," she stuttered.

"Hey now, relax, would ya?" He gave her what she was sure he thought of as a charming smile. She felt her stomach churn inside her as he watched her. "Good ole Hank here's not gonna hurt ya...don't you worry your pretty little head about that."

"I really have to go," she said, her voice shaking.

"Aw, what's your rush, sweet thing? I can show you a good time...if you'll let me," he smirked and Kelsi found herself swallowing another gulp as air as he took yet another step closer to her. "Come on, cutie...how about me and you pick up from where we left off last night? Before Blondie showed up and ruined everything." He ran his finger down first her cheek and then her arm making her shudder. "How about you and me have some fun?"

--------------------------------

"Where's Kelsi?" The Wildcats still in the lobby looked up at the sound of Ryan's voice, all of them with varying degrees of shock written on their faces. "Come on, where is she? I have to talk to her."

"Look, man, I don't know what happened with you and Kelsi to make you jump at her like you did this morning, but I think the last thing she needs is a repeat of that discussion," Chad said calmly, though there was a hint of a warning in his tone. He softened slightly at the look on Ryan's face. "Actually I think that's the last thing either of you needs."

"I'm not interested in a repeat of that particular conversation Chad, I assure you." Ryan's gaze swept over the group, coming to rest on Troy. "I just want the truth. I don't want to fight with her right now...I just want the truth." Troy pursed his lips as he studied Ryan.

"She took a walk," he said finally. "She said she needed some time alone to think."

"Which way did she go?" Ryan asked.

"She went that way," Gabriella interjected softly, pointing.

"Does one of us need to go with you?" Chad asked.

"Don't you trust me?" Ryan countered, trying not to get irritated with him. He knew that Chad didn't really mean to annoy him; he was just looking out for Kelsi who Ryan knew he thought of like a little sister. "Come on, Chad, you know me. Am I still angry at her? Of course I am. Am I still hurt by what she did to me? Yes. But do you honestly believe I would ever hurt her?" At Chad's raised eyebrow Ryan lifted both of his hands up in defense. "Physically?"

"Well of course you wouldn't," Martha spoke up, hoping to diffuse what might turn into a bad situation.

"I appreciate the confidence you have in me, Martha," Ryan said, his eyes never leaving Chad's. "But with all due respect I wasn't asking you. Chad...I may have some said hurtful things to Kelsi earlier and I may have been out of line. I...I _was_ out of line...I admit it," he acknowledged. "But do you really believe that there's any reason why she shouldn't be safe with me?"

"No," Chad replied, after a long moment. He let out a sigh as he watched Ryan. "Of course not. I'm sorry, man, I just..."

"I know," Ryan interrupted. "Kelsi's lucky to have a friend like you." He looked among the others again. "I'll see you guys later." He headed toward the door but stopped when he felt a hand on his arm. He looked up to find Gabriella, whose deep brown eyes were full of empathy.

"Kelsi is in a very fragile state right now, Ryan," she said simply. "And so are you. Be careful."

"I will," he said softly.

"And Ryan?" she added, giving him a warm smile. "Good luck."

-------------------------------

"I...I really need to get back to my friends...they're going to be wondering about me..." Kelsi stammered as nerves quickly turned into fear.

"You can hang out with your friends anytime," Hank argued. "But this might be your only chance to have some fun with me. Come on, cutie, let me show you a good time. I'll make you feel real good...I promise," he winked at her and she found herself biting back a scream.

"I...I have to go...right now," she managed, forcing herself to turn around with the intent of running back to her hotel.

"Not so fast." Up until that point, Hank had kept his voice lighthearted in the hopes of being able to convince her to go with him, but at that moment it became ice cold. She felt his hand clamp tightly around her wrist as he spoke and she cried out as he yanked her back to him. "You were all over me last night and it's pretty obvious where we would've ended up if Blondie hadn't of shown up."

"I...I had been drinking..." she whispered.

"Doesn't matter," he shrugged. "You still wanted it and you know it." He whipped her around so her back was too him and clamped one arm around her waist and his free hand over her mouth. "The way I see it, you owe me," he muttered in her ear, dragging her between two buildings. Thinking only of getting away from him, Kelsi bit down hard on his hand to get him to move it. "Son of a -" he growled.

"Help! Someone help me!" she yelled, only to have him throw her into the side of one of the buildings.

"You're really going to wish you hadn't done that," he sneered.

---------------------------------

Ryan had made it a few blocks away from the hotel when he heard a woman cry out for help. His heart suddenly began beating in double time as he realized that it wasn't just any woman that had cried out. It was Kelsi. Acting on pure instinct alone, he took off at a run. Thinking nothing of all of the pain and anger she had caused him and only of getting to her in time, he practically flew down the street.

"Let me go...please." Kelsi whimpered the words just as Ryan found her. He could feel the blood boiling in his veins as he took in the sight of little Kelsi pressed up against one of the buildings struggling to break free while a big, creepy man had her wrists locked in an iron grip. "You're hurting me..." Kelsi whispered, yelping in pain when the man tightened his grip on her. Ryan's fury quickly turned into unadulterated rage as he recognized that this was the same man who he had gotten Kelsi away from the night before.

"Get your hands off her!" Ryan's voice boomed into the alleyway, startling the large man and Kelsi, who both turned their heads to look at him.

"Ryan," Kelsi breathed, feeling a strange sense of awe mix in with her overwhelming fear. Here was Ryan, a man whose heart she had intentionally trampled all over and broken...a man that she had never stopped wanting or loving...a man who had become cold and even cruel in the years since she had left him...a man who had called her both a tramp and a bitch just a couple of hours before. Here was Ryan, after all of that, confronting a man that was probably twice his size all so he could save her. Her...the woman he had once loved with all of his heart and soul, but now hated. Or so she had assumed. A sob that had nothing to do with her current predicament escaped from her as she watched her ex-boyfriend stare down her attacker with a murderous glint in his eyes.

"Leave her alone," Ryan growled, taking on the appearance of a wolf about to launch an attack on their prey.

"Hey man, she was asking for it!" Hank fired back, snapping Kelsi out of her Ryan-induced haze. "Go away, Blondie, this has nothing to do with you." Hank turned his attention back to Kelsi, convinced that he had scared the other man away and had momentarily let go of one of her wrists. That had quickly proven to be a mistake; however, as he was stunned to feel himself being violently yanked from her and then spun around, effectively breaking the hold he had on her other wrist. The fist had collided solidly with his jaw before he even had time to think.

If Ryan's arrival had surprised her, the way he had jumped in to jerk Hank away from her left her entirely stunned. She soon found herself rendered speechless as she watched Ryan continue to unleash his fury on Hank. Ryan had always appeared to be the epitome of self-control, but now seemed to be experiencing a total loss of control as his fists hit Hank over and over again. It was as if all of the hurt and pain and anger he had been feeling for the past five years had suddenly come to a head. Hank had begun to fight back after the first punch had been thrown and proved to be as strong as he looked. A casual observer would more than likely decide that Hank would have the clear advantage in this fight, considering how much larger than Ryan he was. But for what Ryan lacked in size, he made up for in passion, which seemed to tip the scales in his direction.

The fight was pretty intense, and both men had taken and given some really hard hits. Kelsi winced as Hank drove his fist hard into Ryan's stomach, only to have Ryan come back swinging, even as he held onto his stomach with his other hand. Watching it was kind of like passing the scene of a car accident, Kelsi mused, though it was a wonder she could even think at all. On one hand, she didn't want to look because it was awful and scary. And on the other, she simply couldn't help herself.

She vaguely thought she heard Ryan yell for her to run, but she couldn't have moved even if she wanted to. It was as if her feet were planted into the ground, robbing her of any attempt she might make to flee. Not that she would have left him anyway. Her eyes were glued to him and she let out a loud gasp as Hank threw him roughly to the ground. Ryan seemed to be struggling to recover as he lay there, and Kelsi watched as Hank slowly made his way closer to his victim, as if he was going for the kill.

"No!" Giving no thought to her personal safety, Kelsi let out a small cry as she launched herself onto Hank's back and lodged her arm against his throat. She realized she was no match for him, but she was hoping that she could at least distract him long enough to give Ryan a chance to recover. Hank let out a growl as he reached back to try to throw her off but she only tightened her grip instead. He began squirming around trying to get her off of him, but she somehow kept holding on even while her body was flailing around. Finally Hank managed to get a good grip on her and she went flying. She barely had time to scream as her body made solid contact with the wall before hitting the ground hard.

"Kelsi," Ryan whispered her name as she landed, having witnessed her struggle with Hank, who was advancing on Kelsi menacingly. The sight was all it took for Ryan to find the strength to get to his feet and tackle Hank, while Kelsi fought to remain conscious. Ryan had taken Hank to the ground and was throwing punch after punch as he knelt on the larger man's chest.

"Little bitch deserved everything she got," Hank muttered. He knew that he had lost the fight but couldn't help throwing in one last blow, even if only a verbal one. The moment the statement was out of his mouth, Hank knew he had pushed the blond man too far. A rage, unlike anything he had ever witnessed came over the smaller man; it was as if his words had caused every muscle inside the other man to flex, as they were ready to do uncontrollable damage. He felt his eyes widen as the other man's hands were suddenly at his throat.

"Give me one good reason not to finish you off right now," Ryan sneered, his rage somehow increasing. "It'd be so easy for me. You're done...you don't have anything else left. You don't have the strength to fight me off." There was a tiny place in the back of Ryan's mind which recognized he was going too far, he was no murderer. But something had snapped, it was as if that last shred of humanity, the piece keeping him from tearing this guy's face apart had suddenly withered away. At that moment Ryan was more animal than man. Ryan lowered his face to the other man's and was rewarded when he saw fear in his eyes. "How's it feel?" he said, his voice soft and dangerous. "Being so helpless?" Ryan tightened his grip on the man's throat just enough to prove that he was serious. "Say it."

"Let...let me go," Hank managed. Real fear was coursing readily through his veins.

"Let me go...what?" Ryan taunted, long since past the point of no return.

"Please." The word came out in a whimper and Ryan smirked, the brightness in his eyes fading a little.

"Stay away from her," Ryan warned, nodding his head toward Kelsi. "If I so much as see you look at her again, I will track you down and finish what I started." In the back of his mind, as his body worked itself back towards some semblance of balance, Ryan recognized the troubling strength to his temper. This time the choice to ignore the humanity creeping it's way back in was his. "That's a promise."

"O-okay," Hank stammered, feeling relief washing over him as the grip on his throat lessened.

"Get out of here," Ryan advised him, his voice whisper soft, as he moved to allow Hank to get up. "Before I change my mind." The threat must have hit its mark, as Hank scrambled to his feet and half ran, half stumbled away from Ryan as fast as he could...which wasn't at a very rapid pace, considering how beaten up he was.

Ryan took a moment to catch his breath; he let the varying emotions presently bombarding him run their course, as he watched Hank's retreating figure getting smaller and smaller until it disappeared completely. As Ryan turned around his gaze met Kelsi's limp form crumbled on the ground like some sort of rag doll. At the sight of her, all feelings of anger rolled off of him in waves, only to be replaced with fear and an almost uncontrollable panic. He rose to his feet and rushed to Kelsi's side, hoping the damage inflicted on her small body wasn't too severe. His hands went immediately to her head, checking for damage, relieved when his fingers didn't meet with any blood. She was still crumbled up on the ground, but he could see her slowly move her head from one side to the other as she worked her way towards consciousness.

"Ry...Ryan," she murmured, sounding completely out of it.

"Kelsi." Choking back the fear that was trying to consume him, he put a hand on either side of her face. "Kelsi?"

"Ryan...didn't mean....so sorry," she mumbled. "Ryan..." Kelsi let out a moaning sound as she fought to come out of the heavy daze she was in. "Love you...still love you..." At her words Ryan felt himself going completely still.

"What?" he whispered. "What did you just say?"


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: This story is really starting to come along, I have to say. I'm about to go back in and do some work on the next chapter though it may take a few days since I'll be out of town this weekend. Thanks so much for all of the reviews/support so far! I hope you all enjoy this chapter...probably one of my favorite chapters to write. Thank you to the ladies who helped me, one in particular - who was wonderful with helping me smooth out some rough patches and flushing out some parts I had and making them better. This chapter was definitely a team effort and I really appreciated all the help. I am putting both a steam and a language advisory on this chapter and would just like to say that the latter one is jenpen1027's fault since her latest chapter inspired it (of Wallflower...I think most, if not all, of you are reading that one but if not go check it out). Anyway things get pretty darn heated in this chapter...and it all starts with an ankle. You'll see what I mean as you read. Hope you all like this chapter! Let me know!**

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"No...don't wanna go...too scared..." Ryan worked to fight off the confusion and emotions that her earlier words had stirred in him, and instead focused on what she was saying now. "Don't wanna go to Vegas...scared to see Ryan...can't let down Troy and Gabriella..."

"Kelsi?" He patted her cheek gently, though he wasn't sure if that actually helped someone regain consciousness or not. He figured it couldn't hurt, especially considering how out of it Kelsi appeared to be. "Come on Kelsi...wake up."

"Too painful...don't wanna hurt him..." Kelsi let out another moaning sound, and when she spoke again her incoherent babbling changed direction. "Sorry...so sorry...it's all my fault...didn't mean to make her leave...sorry Dad...I didn't mean it...all my fault..."

"Kelsi?" Ryan frowned as he continued his battle with his ever increasing panic, trying to make sense of her words and knowing he wouldn't be able to. Ryan didn't even notice that the hand that had been gently patting her cheek was now caressing it. As he attempted not to think about what she had first said, he instead focused his energy on helping her find her way back to herself. "Kelsi? Can you hear me?" He leaned in a little closer as he spoke, making his voice as soothing as possible. "Kelsi?"

As Ryan found himself so physically close to Kelsi, it was near impossible for him not to feel. He had been doing so well; keeping his distance and maintaining the wall of hostility that helped him make it through the day without missing her. But being here, seeing what almost happened to her and listening to her incoherent ramblings...ramblings that sent off all sorts of alarm bells inside Ryan's head, it was almost too much to bear. Ryan reached out and let one stray finger trail down Kelsi's smooth cheek. As much as Ryan would have liked to believe he was over Kelsi, this situation was proving he had a long way to go.

Kelsi felt like she had somehow managed to slip out of reality and into a world that seemed to be made up of darkness and fog. She tried to look around but it seemed to be more of the same everywhere she looked. She wasn't exactly sure where she was, but she wanted to find her way back to reality as soon as possible. She was just about to give up when she thought she heard something. The noises sounded as if it came from somewhere far away, too far for her to be able to identify at the moment. She forced herself to listen as the noise started becoming louder and louder, even if only in tiny increments.

A voice...that was what the noise was, she realized after what had felt like forever. Someone was speaking, and from what she could tell it almost seemed as if that someone was speaking to her. It was around that point she noticed that there were tiny pinpoints of light beginning to poke their way through the darkness she had become almost accustomed to. Encouraged, she tried to work her way toward them as the strange little world she had found herself in seemed to be changing. The fog was still present, though starting to decrease, and she had the sensation of being deep underwater and trying to swim her way up to the surface. It seemed that if she could manage to do that, she could break free of all of the fog and be immersed in the light completely.

As Kelsi made her way closer to what she deemed to be the surface, it became clear that the voice was indeed talking to her. Or rather, the voice was calling her name, trying to help her find her way back to the light and hopefully back to herself. She turned all of her attention on the voice, and almost instantaneously, it seemed as if those tiny pinpoints of lights were slowly getting larger. She was still too far gone to recognize just who the voice calling her belonged to, but she soon found that it didn't matter as something rather extraordinary seemed to be happening inside her. It seemed as if all of her emotions were suddenly on high alert...feelings of warmth and love filled her entire body as she continued her struggle to break free of the seemingly endless fog.

"Kelsi?" Ryan hadn't known it was possible to go from one extreme emotion to the next in so short a time, but the longer Kelsi stayed out of it, the more worried he felt. It was as if the all-consuming feelings of anger he had felt before had been replaced with fear and concern. "Come on, Kelsi...come back to me...you can do it."

"Mmm..." Kelsi groaned. The voice was calling to her again, but this time she recognized it. And quite honestly, it was the only voice she wanted to hear. "Ryan..." His name came out slowly, the hope evident in her tone.

"That's right ba-...Kelsi," Ryan corrected himself instantly. He was astonished that he had been about to call her baby – something he had called her all the time while they had been dating. The term of endearment had been a favorite of hers and was probably the one he had used the most often. The fact that it had come so naturally was disconcerting to him, but he couldn't think about that just yet. First things first...he had to bring Kelsi back to a conscious state.

"Ryan." This time his name came out as a whisper and there seemed to be a tenderness to the way she said it, confusing him even further.

"Come on, Kelsi," he stammered, forcing himself not to get distracted. "Kelsi."

"Kelsi." As more and more light pierced its way through the darkness, Kelsi became increasingly convinced that she was listening to the voice of an angel, an angel who sounded exactly like Ryan. It seemed like the more she focused on the voice, the more light flooded into the strange world she was trying so hard to break free of. In addition to the love and warmth she had been feeling she began to feel something else: the feeling of safety.

She still wasn't sure if her angel was Ryan or not, but she was positive that they were keeping her safe. Whatever bad thing had sent her into the land of darkness and fog, it must have run away in the presence of her angel. Of that she was positive. A feeling of security filled Kelsi's being as she felt the warm light all around her now. She felt the Ryan angel touching her, trailing his hands gently up and down her arms. Surprise registered through her being, as she realized she could touch him and hold him as well.

Ryan felt shock course through his veins, as suddenly Kelsi was in his arms. He had been leaning into her, as the wall behind her back continued to support her. And then their situations had reversed. Somehow Kelsi's arms had wound their way over his shoulders and twined around his neck. Ryan's breath caught as he felt her pressed bodily against him. It had been so long since he had held her. His mind was on full alert, sending off warning signals not to get too comfortable, but his heart, oh his heart was overpowering the mind in this battle, as he felt his arms flex possessively around Kelsi's slim body.

The feeling of pressure around her middle was the final piece of the puzzle. Kelsi's already open eyes started to focus in and return to reality. It was then that she recognized Ryan. But she had known, even when she was lost in the abyss between darkness and light, she had known the voice belonged to Ryan. He was her angel. At the moment of recognition her arms tightened reflexively around the man comforting her.

"Ryan." When she spoke his name again, she sounded much more alert than she had previously and Ryan could only lift up a silent prayer of gratitude at the sound of it.

"Kelsi," he sighed in relief, temporarily giving into his exhaustion as he held her close. "Are you okay? How do you feel?" he asked. Kelsi had been so caught up in the feeling of being in his arms after so much time, that she hadn't even thought about the pain since waking up from her daze. But now as she lay there the pain seemed to hit her in waves, from the ache in her head all the way down to the throbbing in her right ankle.

"It hurts," she said weakly, letting out a whimper in pain as she tried to shift in his arms. "Everything hurts."

Ryan was not exactly sure why, but Kelsi's comment pushed his exhaustion and gratitude off to the side for a bit, as anger and frustration flowed freely through. In the back of his mind he knew it wasn't fair to Kelsi, but it was out of his control. He had almost lost her...that fact seemed to be shining in bright neon lights inside his mind...and heart.

"Well, what do you expect?" he asked, feeling a new found anger over the entire situation join the stew of emotions he was experiencing. "The guy was huge, Kelsi. He flung you around like a rag doll!" He shook his head as his memories of the way he had seen Kelsi pressed up against the wall, frozen in terror, when he had first arrived filled his mind. "What the hell were you thinking?" The question came out harsher than he had intended it to, and he didn't miss the way Kelsi's arms loosened from around his neck in response. "He could've killed you," Ryan continued, unable to help himself and finding his anger easier to hold onto than his fear. "I mean, dammit Kelsi, what is wrong with you lately? Taking a walk by yourself in Las Vegas? Hanging all over that creep last night? Are you trying to get yourself killed!?"

"I...I wasn't..." she stammered, somehow managing to ease herself out of his arms in order to lean against the wall instead. Ryan's words seemed to add new bruise after new bruise to her already damaged body.

"My God, Kelsi, the guy had you against the wall and you were completely helpless! What would you have done if I hadn't shown up, huh?" he demanded. He lowered his eyes as he spoke, not wanting her to see the tears that were forming in his eyes at the thought of what would've happened.

"I...I don't know," she admitted. Her eyes widened as she scanned the area looking for any signs of Hank as the fear she had felt earlier came back tenfold.

"What could you have done? Nothing! He probably would've raped you and then..." Ryan trailed off as he heard Kelsi let out a small sob. He looked back at her and instantly felt all the steam go out of his building argument as the anger he had been trying to hold onto left his body, giving way to deep concern. Kelsi was leaning against the wall of the building trembling uncontrollably, with tears streaming down her face, her eyes wide with fresh fear.

"He would've killed me." The words came tumbling out of her mouth in a panicked whisper. "He would've...he..."

"Kelsi." Ryan willed his voice not to shake as he attempted to sound both calm and comforting.

"I-if you hadn't of shown up..." She shook her head feebly as her eyes met his. "Oh God...how could I have been so stupid?" The question wasn't so much directed to him as it was to herself. Ryan watched her lip quiver and instinctively reached out to put a hand on her arm, hating the way she jolted in fear at the contact.

"It's okay," he said quietly. "It's all okay now, Kelsi. He's gone now...I made him go away and he's not coming back." He locked his gaze on hers as he rubbed her arm gently to try to soothe her as she continued to tremble. "It's okay...that creep is never going to hurt you again, I promise. Okay?" She sniffled as she nodded, willing herself to focus on what Ryan was saying. "You're safe now," he continued. "I'm...I'm here."

"Don't leave me." The words were out of her mouth before she had time to process them, almost as if they had a mind of their own. Kelsi felt her eyes fill up with fresh tears as she studied him, though these tears were not a result of her fear over what had happened. No, these were tears of recognition...for the first time since arriving in Las Vegas; he looked just like the man she had left all those years ago. His eyes had lost the anger and bitterness that seemed to have become a permanent part of him, and been replaced with compassion and kindness. Two of the things she had loved most about him. In the back of her mind Kelsi knew that it was only a matter of time before the anger and bitterness returned, but that didn't change the fact that he had temporarily turned back into the person he had been. Maybe not completely, but she could see the traces of the old Ryan and she was reminded once more of just how much she missed him. She had been well on her way to a panic attack, but she slowly felt her breathing return to normal as she kept her eyes trained on his.

"It's okay, Kelsi," he said softly. "I'm here...I won't leave you." All of the feelings she'd had while working her way back to consciousness came rushing back as her eyes drank in the sight of the man who had become her angel.

"Ryan..." she murmured his name as she felt her entire body fill with a strange sense of wonder. The same wonder she had felt when he had first appeared to save her. She thought back to the fight and how passionately Ryan had fought the man trying to hurt her; how passionately he had fought _for_ her. The love she had for him, the love she had always had for him, seemed to be spilling out of her heart and filling her entire being. She found herself leaning toward him, as if there was some kind of magnetic force she was unable to control pulling her to him. The urge to hold him close and kiss him was so strong that she felt powerless to resist it as her eyes lowered to his lips.

As Kelsi's body was filling up with love, Ryan felt his fill up with fear. Only instead of the fear that had come from almost losing her, it was a different kind of fear all together. Earlier that morning he had done his best to convince Taylor that he was not still in love with Kelsi...though it was hard for him to say if it was only Taylor he was trying to convince, or if he was also trying to convince himself. Now, as he watched all sorts of emotions flicker across Kelsi's face, he could see the woman that he had always believed Kelsi to be, and he could have sworn that he felt his heart leap up in his chest at the sight. It was as if his heart was sending him one giant wake up call, as if to remind Ryan that he was still in love with Kelsi no matter how hard he tried to deny it.

Ryan's eyes flickered to her mouth and lingered there, feeling his throat suddenly go bone dry. It seemed as if every nerve in his body was on alert and trying to tell him to close the gap between them and kiss her like he so desperately wanted to do. Kelsi certainly seemed more than willing and that only served to increase his desire. But there was just one problem and it was a major one...his fear. He knew that if his lips were to meet hers that he wouldn't be able to control himself, and all of his feelings would be out right in the open for her to feel and see. He would be completely and utterly vulnerable and exposed and that was one thing he simply couldn't allow to happen. Because the last time he had been so open and vulnerable to her, she had crushed him...she had launched an attack that had left him broken and bleeding and she had stomped all over him for good measure on her way out. No, he could not let himself ever be that vulnerable to her ever again. The first time had almost killed him...the second time would no doubt finish him off.

Somewhere in the course of his thinking, Ryan had begun to respond, finding himself leaning in closer to Kelsi, his lips practically touching hers when he suddenly pulled away. Alarm bells started sounding in his head; as he worked to convince himself that kissing her would be a mistake. He immediately noticed the wave of disappointment that flashed in her eyes upon his rejection.

"Um," he said awkwardly. "I should...you said..." He trailed off, frustrated with himself and his inability to speak coherently at the moment. Maybe he should have just let himself kiss her...that was what he had wanted to do. Damn his conscious and...fear. When he spoke again, it was with determination, the need to get that disappointed look off Kelsi's face almost overwhelming. So Ryan did the only thing he could think to do on the spur of the moment...he changed the subject. "I should check you for injuries," he decided, hoping to get his mind off Kelsi's utterly inviting lips in the process. "You...um, you look pretty banged up. I...I'll just...Just...just hold still and tell me if anything hurts, okay?" His hands were on her head as he spoke, though the moment his fingers made contact with her soft skin he realized this was the wrong course of action. Touching Kelsi was like an addiction, a pleasantly heady addiction. Earlier he had checked her head for any blood, of which there had mercifully been none, but now he was checking for bumps. "Um...how's your head feel?" he asked, somewhat lamely.

"It hurts," she replied, wincing as his probing fingers found a sensitive spot. Kelsi tried to simply concentrate on Ryan's roaming fingers as they combed through her tangled curls. She was about to let out a yelp when Ryan's fingers brushed over a particularly sensitive spot, only to be effectively cut off as she was suddenly preoccupied with how gentle he was being.

"Sorry," he apologized quickly, feeling the barely there flinch that slightly shook her body. "Um...let's see...do you feel dizzy at all?" Ryan attempted to keep his mind on the task at hand, but it was so difficult, the familiarity of running his fingers through Kelsi's hair was almost too much for him.

"Uh, no," Kelsi said lightly, wondering what was causing the distracted expression on Ryan's face.

"That's good, I think," he nodded, all previous distractions shoved aside as he discovered a small lump on the side of her head. "What about your vision? Is it blurry at all?"

"No," she said softly. He pulled one hand away from her head and held up three fingers.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" he asked.

"Three." She watched as he lowered one. "Two."

"Here, follow my finger with your eyes," he ordered. She obeyed, following his finger easily while he kept his eyes trained on hers. "Good," he murmured. "I'm trying to remember what else you're supposed to ask when someone has a head injury," he informed her. "Do...do you remember what happened?" The question was asked hesitantly, the last thing Ryan wanted to do was recollect that asshole's hands all over his girlfrie- . Ryan's eyes widened and he gave his head a hard shake, as he wondered where the hell that had come from.

"I...I went for a walk to clear my head and then H-Hank found me," she said quietly, bringing Ryan's attention back to their present state. "He um...he pulled me in here and then had me against the wall..." She trailed off as a violent shudder passed through her. "And then you showed up...and then..."

"It's okay," he cut in, his voice as gentle as his fingers felt. "That's good enough." He pursed his lips as studied the bump he had found, carefully moving her hair away from it. "I don't think you have a concussion," he offered. "Though you'll probably want to get some ice on that..." He gave her a small smile. "Of course if any of the others find out about this they'll probably make you go to the hospital to make sure, but...it doesn't seem like you really need to...for whatever that's worth. Um...hold out your arms." She slowly lifted them up for him to inspect and suddenly found herself trying to remember how to breathe as he trailed his hands gently down them.

Ryan inhaled sharply as he took in the angry bruises already forming on her small wrists where Hank had grabbed her. As much as the possible injuries to her head had scared him, looking at her wrists was worse. He could see the outline of the other man's large hands on them. He found himself sucking down another mouthful of air as he was reminded, once again, of what could have happened if he hadn't gotten there in time. What kind of scene he may have stumbled upon if he had arrived even a few seconds later than he had. He forced himself to look at her hands, unable to take looking at her wrists any longer, and noted that both of her palms were scratched up. All of the scrapes looked pretty shallow, so he imagined that they would heal fairly quickly.

Ryan found his eyes returning to her wrists, this time gently running his fingers across her bruises as he whispered the words "I'm sorry." He felt the sting of fresh tears in eyes and struggled to get a hold of his raging emotions. "I'm so sorry...I should've gotten here sooner..."

"Ryan..." Kelsi said soothingly. "You...you don't have to apologize...you...you saved me."

"I should've gotten here sooner," he repeated, shaking his head. He traced the bruises on her right wrist with his finger as he continued. "I'm...I'm sorry about before...I'm sorry about what I...what I called you...I was out of line." Ryan's brow furrowed as his chin quivered, knowing he was about to lose it and yet not knowing how to stop it. "I'm sorry..."

"I'm...I'm sorry too," she said the words so quietly that it was a wonder that he had even heard them. "About our fight earlier...I-I'm sorry I said I hated you...I shouldn't have said that...it's not true. I don't hate you...I never did." Kelsi bit her lip as she willed herself not to dissolve into tears. "I'm sorry I was so cruel to you."

"That's okay...I'm used to it." Ryan winced the second the words were out of his mouth, hating himself for going there...especially for going there right then. "I'm sorry...that was out of line."

"But well deserved," Kelsi murmured honestly, forcing herself to ignore the fresh hurt that poured through her body at his comment. "I...I was cruel to you that day too...it wasn't...I never..." She shook her head as she thought about how to proceed, knowing that she would have to choose her words carefully. "I treated you horribly and for no good reason...You were a good guy, Ryan, you deserved better than that. So much better...I-I was upset and hurting and lashing out...I didn't even mean most of the things I said to you..." she started. "Like when I said you weren't all that bright...or insulting your choreography...I...I didn't mean any of that..."

"You didn't?" His eyes were on hers suddenly and she nearly jumped at the intensity in them. "You didn't mean what you said?"

"About all of that...no I didn't," she stammered. "You're...you're a smart person, Ryan...you always were. And...And you're choreography isn't mediocre...it's...it's wonderful. You...you have a gift. I never should have implied that you didn't...it was wrong of me and I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Ryan frowned as he studied her, finding himself growing more confused by the second. He thought back to his earlier conversation with Taylor and wondered if it was possible that she was right after all. He was just about to question Kelsi further, in regards to her apology, when she let out a soft yelp.

"What's wrong?" he asked, effectively distracted as his panic spiked once more. He did a quick scan over her with his eyes in an attempt to figure out what had happened. "What hurts?"

"My ankle," she winced. "I tried to move it...it really hurts."

"Hmm...let me see," he said softly, surprising her by reaching down and tenderly picking up her foot. He slid her shoe off and set it beside him, nearly smiling as he studied her foot – he had almost forgotten how small she was. He shook his head as he willed himself to focus, holding her foot with one hand and gently running his other one around her ankle to check for swelling. It was at that exact moment that he realized that he had also forgotten how soft her skin had always been. He forced the thought out of his head as well as he could, instead choosing to try to keep his mind on his impromptu examination.

Kelsi, meanwhile, found herself struggling not to pass out as all of the air whooshed out of her body. His hand was whisper soft against her skin as he slowly began running his fingers around her ankle. The pain, which had been bad enough to make her yelp in the first place, was suddenly pushed to the back of her mind as she instead focused on the way his hands felt on her skin. She wasn't exactly sure why it seemed as if all of her nerves were suddenly on full alert, when she had been perfectly fine, well, for the most part, while he had been trailing his hands down her arms. She pondered over that for a moment, nodding to herself as a memory from the past drifted into her mind.

It had been the week before they were scheduled to leave for Juilliard and the two of them had decided to take a walk around the park near her house. Everything had been perfectly fine until she had managed to get her foot caught in something and gone tumbling to the ground before he could catch her. Her ankle had gotten twisted in the process and she remembered that he had picked her up and carried her to a nearby bench, where he had sat down with her halfway in his lap and begun an examination of her ankle – much like the one he was performing currently. Kelsi remembered that she had been fighting off tears and he had done his best to make her smile. His hand had been gentle on her ankle and he had been moving it slowly across her skin causing her to let out a soft, and greatly unexpected, moan. She remembered turning bright red as he had laughed, highly amused by her reaction, and then purposely slowed his hand even further.

"Not thinking about the pain anymore, now are ya?" he had smirked.

"N-not exactly," she had stammered, completely baffled by the extreme reaction she'd had. "Y-you should stop."

"Oh now Kelsi, I have to make sure your ankle is okay," he had said innocently – far too innocently in her opinion.

"You're terrible," she had managed, feeling her eyes widen as he pulled her closer.

"But you love me anyway," he had murmured before bringing his mouth to hers in a sweet kiss that had completely stolen her breath.

Kelsi fought the ridiculous urge to fan herself as memories of that kiss lingered in her mind. It may be her imagination but it seemed as if her body temperature was steadily rising as her mouth went dry. "Oh my," she whispered as his hand changed direction. Ryan glanced up at her and was surprised to find her biting her lip and looking slightly uncomfortable.

"Um...Kelsi?" he asked, puzzled.

"Yes?" she squeaked, her voice bearing a striking resemblance to that of Minnie Mouse. She cleared her throat, feeling her face turning red in the process. "I mean...yes?"

"Are you okay?" Ryan was looking at her as if she had grown an extra head and she couldn't say she blamed him. "Am I hurting you?" A short, nervous and breathless giggle escaped from her at the question, surprising them both.

"God no," she muttered under her breath.

"What?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No...no, you're not," she answered.

"Um...okay..." Ryan looked at her funny for a long moment, more than likely trying to determine if maybe she had suffered a brain injury after all. He shook his head, completely oblivious to the real cause of her current problem, as he returned to his examination. He gently moved her foot in first one direction and then another, causing her to let out another yelp in pain.

"Sorry about that," he said softly. "I...I don't think it's broken. Probably just a sprain...you should put ice on it when we get back to the hotel. Keep it elevated and all that."

"Okay," she agreed. She lifted her eyes to his face and let out a soft gasp of surprise. She had been so caught up in her panic and emotions since waking up from her stupor, that she hadn't even noticed just how banged up Ryan was. His face, his beautiful face, was covered in scrapes and bruises.

"Oh Ryan," she whispered, her hands instinctively going to his face causing him to freeze. "Ryan...you...you were hurt too."

"It's nothing," he argued.

"You were hurt," she repeated, gently caressing his cheeks with her hands. "You were hurt protecting me."

"I...I had to save you," he said softly. "I couldn't let that guy keep hurting you."

"Thank you," she whispered, letting her fingers gently trace over his cuts and bruises, almost willing her fingers to take his pain away. Unknowingly, with each touch of her finger their faces grew closer and closer. "Thank you Ryan." Kelsi took a deep breath, as her face moved even closer to his; she could now feel his breath on her face. "Thank you for saving me."

"Kelsi," he murmured, his voice thick with emotion. Ryan seemed to have lost the ability to think as he covered more of the slight distance between them. Once again his mind was screaming at him to back away, trying to remind him of how much pain she had caused him...but his heart was screaming at him too, refusing to be ignored. "I'll always keep you safe." The words came out of his mouth naturally...too naturally.

"Oh Ryan," she said his name on a soft sob, knowing what she was about to do was more than likely a mistake and yet being unable to help herself. She knew she would come to regret it with time, but at the moment she didn't care. She didn't care about the consequences that were sure to come...she didn't care that by doing this all of her feelings for him would be blatantly obvious. She didn't care about any of that, she just cared about him and how long it had been since she had felt his kiss. "Ryan," she repeated his name as she brushed her lips against is for a second or two, her mouth lingering a hair away from his as a whimpering sound escaped her. "Ryan." She brought her mouth to his again, at first keeping the kiss gentle but soon finding herself unable to, as any control she had suddenly left her body. It was as if everything she had felt for him over the years – all of the longing and wishing and wanting and needing for him – suddenly came to a head as she completely let go, kissing him with a desperation that surprised them both.

Or maybe surprised wasn't a strong enough word for what Ryan felt in the first few moments while her mouth moved against his...maybe it was more of a case of him being completely and utterly stunned by the passion she was pouring into her kiss. The intensity took him aback at first, but he soon found himself responding, as he didn't have the will to resist. He heard her let out a soft moan and felt the slippery grip he had on his control melt away. His heart felt like it might leap out of his chest in pure joy, but his mind was screaming at him to get a hold of himself.

Ryan jerked away from her suddenly, his mind winning this round, as he struggled to catch his breath. "No," he managed. "This...this is a really bad idea," he reasoned, trying to regain control of himself. "I can't do this...we broke up...you...you _left_ me! You broke my heart...you..." he trailed off, both of them breathing heavy, as he lifted his eyes to hers. He pressed his lips together as he looked deep into her eyes, taking note of all of the emotions flashing through them...there was disappointment and longing and desire and lo-....Ryan cut himself off before he could finish thinking the word. The first three he could handle but the other...love...he was most certainly _not_ seeing love in her eyes. She had told him she didn't love him all those years before, after all. And that was the truth...wasn't it?

"This is a bad idea," he said firmly, though not as firmly as he had hoped. He knew that he needed to put some distance between them as fast as possible, but as he looked into those blue eyes of her...those big, beautiful blue eyes of hers that were practically pleading with him, the combination of desire and passion in them so strong that he found himself unable to resist. He shook his head, knowing that he'd be kicking himself later for doing this but not having the strength to resist. "Fuck it."

His lips came crashing down on hers before she even had time to blink, and Kelsi found her arms wrapping tightly around his neck to hold on as he lost all control. He yanked her closer to him, causing her to marvel at all of the glorious contradictions that seemed to make up the man she'd always loved. His kiss was pure fire, hot and smoldering, but his hands...oh his hands had been so gentle, strangely so, as he had pulled her to him. It was as if he was still mindful of her injuries and didn't want to hurt her, even as his mouth thoroughly ravaged hers. "Mmm," she groaned against his lips, struggling to get as close to him as humanly possible. There were hints of sweetness in their kiss, but it was mostly fire...made up of longing and desperations and even left over anger and fear over what had just happened with Hank. The kiss was all of those things and more, and there was nothing either one of them could do about it. Nothing that is, except to give in and surrender completely to it.

"Ryan," she gasped his name as they finally broke apart for some much needed gulps of air. At some point she would probably regret the words she was about to say but she was too caught up in her love and longing and lust for him to think clearly. "I need you...I need you so much." He gently caressed her cheek with his hand.

"Kelsi..." Her name was all he could get out before she brought her mouth to his again in a kiss that was just as hot, if not more so, than the one they had shared previously. They were both well past the point of no return. Forget about all of the problems that these kisses would no doubt cause...forget about all of the discussions they needed to have to at some point, most of them painful...forget about all of the hurt and pain both of them had suffered in the years that they had been apart...right now none of that mattered. It all would eventually, once they managed to finally get a hold of themselves, but for the moment the only thing either of them could think about was the other, and the series of kisses they were sharing...kisses that had been five years in the making.

Both Ryan and Kelsi were so absorbed in their kiss that they failed to hear the sounds of people approaching. They weren't even aware that they had an audience...at least not until they heard a loud gasp, followed by a pointed cough.

"Geez guys," a familiar voice said, smugly. "Way to take the whole 'kiss and make up' concept to a new level."


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Finally!!! I was shocked to notice that it's been over two months since I updated! I'm so sorry I've kept all of you waiting for so long! Thank you to an anonymous reviewer, smhco, whose review reminded me that I needed to get back in the LN groove. And a special thank you to another anonymous reviewer, a non-mouse (lol, cute name) for their review contradicting another anonymous review. In light of the latter review, I wanted to put a new disclaimer of sorts on this story and address some of the comments made. **

**#1: Writing group scenes can be difficult, especially when it comes to making sure that every character has their own distinct voice. I do my best and that's all I can do. As far as Sharpay...people change. As everyone will find out eventually, she's been through a lot since leaving Zeke.  
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**#2: If you're reading this because you wanted a great Troy/Gabriella story, then this is not the story for you. Ryan and Kelsi are the main focus of the story, with Zeke and Sharpay being the next important couple. As such, they will get most of the attention. Will there be details about the wedding? Of course. Just remember that it's not the main focus.  
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**#3: The timeline. Aside from the flashbacks, everything that has happened so far has happened within the course of a few hours. It hasn't even been a day yet. If we're talking about this in real time all the mini-group discussions (Taylor & the twins, Kelsi & the girls, & Zeke & the boys) happened at the same time. And honestly, consider that not only did Zeke & Kelsi get drunk and married, the two of them also had a fairly intense fight with the Evans twins in front of the rest of the group. It would have been unrealistic to NOT have everyone talk about it and try to figure out what happened. Does that mean it'll be ALL they'll ever talk about? Of course not.**

**Whew. Sorry about the super long note everyone! Hope that clears up any confusion and hope you all like this chapter! Let me know. :)  
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**Ryan and Kelsi jerked apart instantly, both flushing in embarrassment. "Um...hi guys," Ryan said awkwardly, looking up at their guests – Jason and Martha.

"Hello," Jason grinned. "Do you want us to leave you alone or what?" Beside him, Martha's mouth hung open in shock.

"Don't be ridiculous," Ryan muttered. "We were...were just....well..." He cleared his throat. "Kelsi got hurt...I was trying to help." His words jolted Martha out of her surprise, and she gasped in horror as she finally registered the way Ryan and Kelsi looked.

"Oh my gosh!" she exclaimed, squatting down beside them. "What happened to you guys?"

"I got hurt," Kelsi said quietly, amazed that she had recovered enough to speak. She was feeling lightheaded after the mind blowing kiss she had just been a part of. She kept her eyes trained on Martha's, too terrified to glance over at Ryan and not wanting to see the smug expression that she was sure was on Jason's face.

"She got attacked," Ryan corrected. His words wiped the smile from Jason's face and he knelt beside his wife to examine Kelsi more closely.

"Holy crap," Jason said under his breath.

"Oh Kelsi," Martha whispered, gently grabbing one of Kelsi's hands and inspecting the large bruise on her wrist. "Who did this to you?"

"Creepy guy from last night," Kelsi managed. Martha's eyes widened as she looked from Kelsi to Ryan and back again.

"You mean the guy that Ryan..." she trailed off.

"The guy I saved her from," Ryan supplied. "Yeah...apparently he wanted to finish what he started last night. He had her pinned against the wall when I showed up."

"Ryan saved me," Kelsi whispered. "If he hadn't shown up..."

"Well, I did show up," Ryan said sharply and the tone of his voice had Kelsi closing her eyes in disappointment. From the sound of it, Ryan was quickly rebuilding the walls he had let down while he had kissed her. "So there's no point in finishing that sentence is there?"

"We'd better get you to the hospital to have you checked out," Martha said quietly, taken aback by the sudden change in Ryan's voice. Though, when she let her eyes flicker back to him, she was surprised to see his eyes brimming with unshed tears. Her gaze flickered between Ryan and Kelsi again and she found herself fighting back an unexpected smile. Not about what had happened to poor Kelsi, certainly not about that, but the event seemed to have caused Ryan and Kelsi's feelings for each other to come rushing to the surface. That would certainly explain the kiss her and Jason had stumbled upon.

"Ryan didn't think I had to go," Kelsi said, cutting off Martha's current train of thought. "He...he looked me over."

"She seems okay," Ryan shrugged. "Aside from the obvious cuts and bruises that is...she has a bump on her head, but she doesn't seem to be showing any signs of a concussion. At least not as far as I could tell." He risked a glance at Kelsi, immediately lowering his gaze to her ankle as her eyes met his. "I think she sprained her ankle," he added. "It doesn't seem broken, though....I don't know. It probably wouldn't hurt for her to get looked at by a professional, but there doesn't seem to be anything seriously wrong."

"I really don't want to go to the hospital," Kelsi admitted. She shot a glance at Ryan, but quickly shifted her gaze to Jason instead. "Doesn't our hotel have a doctor on call?"

"I think so," Martha answered, nodding.

"I'd rather do that...and if they think I should go to the hospital, I will, but..." Kelsi trailed off.

"Okay," Martha agreed quickly. "But first we gotta get you back to the hotel...do you think you can walk?"

"Um..." Kelsi winced. "I don't think so..."

"Here, I can help," Jason offered, quickly getting back to his feet. He extended a hand first to Martha to help her up, and then to Kelsi who took it gratefully, letting him pull her up. Beside them Ryan slowly got to his feet as well.

"Maybe try putting some weight on it and see what happens?" Martha suggested.

"Can't hurt to check," Kelsi said, slowly shifting her weight to both of her feet and immediately crying out in pain. Both Ryan and Jason reached out for her instinctively, steadying her before she fell. "I think that's a no," Kelsi managed. "It really, really hurts."

"Want me to carry you?" Jason asked, stifling a yelp as Martha suddenly jammed her elbow into his side. He lifted an eyebrow while Martha gave him a look of warning, discreetly inclining her head towards Ryan. Jason's brow furrowed as he looked from Ryan to his wife causing Martha to let out an exasperated sigh. She risked a glance over at Kelsi and Ryan, noting that the two of them seemed to be sneaking looks at each other when they thought the other one wasn't looking.

"You shouldn't carry her," Martha hissed to Jason, keeping her voice low enough that the other two couldn't hear her.

"Why not?" Jason whispered back.

"Because you should hold my hand," Martha replied, giving him another pointed look. She leaned in closer to him. "Ryan should carry her," she murmured into his ear.

"Oh," Jason said dumbly, though his eyes lit up with understanding a second later. "Oh! Right!"

"What?" Ryan asked, hearing Jason's exclamation.

"I can't carry Kelsi after all," Jason explained.

"Why not?" Ryan demanded.

"Because I have to hold Martha's hand," Jason said matter-of-factly.

"Why?" Ryan asked.

"Well, I'm not going to let you do it." Jason retorted. "Besides, you should carry Kelsi."

"Are you serious?" Ryan asked, looking annoyed.

"Very," Jason answered. "You carry Kelsi."

"Oh, I don't know about that," Kelsi said quickly. "I just need to lean on one of you when I walk...it'll be fine."

"Walk? You can hardly stand." Ryan rolled his eyes. "You're going to limp all the way back? That would take forever."

"Well...Jason, do you really have to hold Martha's hand?" Kelsi asked, warily looking back and forth between Jason and Martha. "Is it that important?"

"Yes," Martha responded. "Besides, Ryan's stronger anyway."

"Yeah, Ryan's...hey!" Jason protested. "I am perfectly capable of carrying Kelsi back! I just...think Ryan should do it."

"Perfect," Ryan said, sarcastically. "Just what I want to do."

"Oh come on, Ryan, she's hurt," Martha coaxed. The argument continued and finally Kelsi shook her head, annoyed and a little hurt by the discussion.

"Oh, just forget it!" Kelsi snapped. "None of you wants to help me, I'll just go back by myself." She squared her shoulders and prepared to storm off without so much as a glance backward...of course, it would have been significantly more effective if she could actually walk, but she limped on anyway.

"Oh for heaven's sake," Ryan mumbled, rolling his eyes again as he followed her. "You're being ridiculous."

"Jason doesn't want to help me and neither do you, so fine. Don't." Kelsi narrowed her eyes as he moved to block her path. "Move."

"Nice way to talk to the guy who saved your life today," he shot back.

"I thanked you, didn't I?" she countered. "Move."

"Kelsi..." Ryan took a calming breath as he studied her. "You've had the crap beaten out of you and you can barely walk. I know that you're still in a lot of pain...I can see it." He let out a long sigh.

"Ryan, I..." Kelsi trailed off, letting out a gasp of surprise as he scooped her up into his arms with what seemed like no effort at all. She flung an arm around his neck in the process, though, in an attempt to not go tumbling back to the ground. "What are you doing?"

"What do you think I'm doing?" he asked, rolling his eyes for the third time. "I'm carrying you back to the hotel."

"Put me down," Kelsi demanded. "This isn't necessary."

"Yes, it is actually. Assuming you want to get back to the hotel before dark," he said in response. He watched, slightly amused, as she pressed her lips into a straight line – a sure sign that she was annoyed. "And besides," he added, his voice going soft. "You never know who could be lurking around here." Kelsi's eyes widened as she scanned the area around them, looking for any sign of Hank as her other arm naturally wrapped around him.

"You don't think he's still here, do you?" she whispered, sounding scared. Ryan felt his face soften as he watched her.

"No," he said quietly. "I told you...I made him go away and he's not coming back. But even still..." He trailed off, the moment getting far more tender than he wanted it to. "We have to get back to the hotel and you have to see the doctor. The sooner, the better. I'm carrying you. Shut up and deal with it." Kelsi sighed, resisting the childish urge to stick her tongue out at him.

"Don't look so glum, Kelsi," Jason piped up from behind them. "You didn't seem to mind being so close to him when we got here, after all."

"Behave yourself," Martha chided her husband, though she had to fight the urge to snicker.

"What? I'm just pointing out that the two of them seemed awfully cozy when we showed up is all," Jason said innocently.

"That's one word for it," Martha muttered under her breath. Kelsi, for her part, had gone mostly still at Jason's words and she couldn't help noticing that Ryan's jaw was now clenched. He seemed to be determined to keep looking straight ahead, focused only on his destination. Kelsi let out another, softer, sigh and shifted her attention away from Ryan's face to the buildings they were passing. Her thoughts drifted back to the kisses she had shared with Ryan and how they had both lost all control. Her face flushed as she recalled how his mouth had so completely ravaged hers.

In the years she had been away from him, Kelsi had found herself thinking about him and the times they shared together far more often than she had wanted to. When she'd made the decision to leave him, she'd believed that it would be better to try and forget about him instead of wallowing in her memories. She was hoping that the distance she'd put between them would make it easier not to think about him, but she had been wrong. She couldn't get Ryan out of either her head or her heart no matter how hard she tried. He was always there in the back of her mind, and there seemed to be no end to the memories that would pop up when she wasn't expecting them to.

Of course, there were times when Kelsi let herself remember him freely. Times when her need for him was so strong that she could barely stand it. In those moments it was all she could do not to fly to New York and beg him to take her back. She'd never admit it to anyone, but she had bought several plane tickets over the years – tickets she had never had the courage to use. Remembering him was the next best thing to being with him. Ryan was perfectly ingrained into her brain...she could remember everything about him, even the way he smelled. She could remember just about every embrace they'd ever had, every kiss. She'd been convinced that her memory of his kisses had been perfect, but as she had just found out, she had been wrong.

Her memories of his kiss didn't hold a candle to the reality of it. Ryan was the only man she had ever really kissed, so she had no way of comparing him to anyone else, but as far as she was concerned his kissing skills were quite exceptional. Kelsi squirmed ever so slightly in his arms, feeling her body temperature steadily rising at the thought of how his mouth had moved against hers. Ryan tended to be a far more passionate person than people realized, but his intensity while kissing her had been a surprise. No doubt a result of the toll the years had taken on him, combined with the leftover emotions from the fight he'd had with Hank.

Kelsi felt her heart skip a beat as she thought about the fight, how furious Ryan had been when he'd stumbled upon Hank pinning her up against the wall. If looks could kill...Kelsi barely suppressed a shudder at the memory of the way Ryan had glared at Hank, as if he were seconds away from tearing the larger man's throat out. Ryan had wasted no time, jumping in to save Kelsi as if it was the most natural thing in the world. She found her gaze drifting back to his face, wincing at the bruises and scrapes that she could see. He had fought so hard on her behalf, fought a man almost twice his size, and gotten hurt as a result. She chewed on her lip, studying his face and wishing that she could do something to make the pain she was sure he was feeling go away.

She blinked against the unexpected tears that had appeared in her eyes, hoping he didn't notice. Just how many times would Ryan get hurt because of her? How many wounds would she inflict, directly or otherwise? She sniffled, struggling not to burst into tears. It didn't matter what she did...she was convinced that she could never repay him for all the pain she'd caused. She shook her head, remembering how intense the fight with Hank had been. Ryan had never been a violent person by any means. He had always been one of the most compassionate people Kelsi had ever known, and up until that day she hadn't imagined him capable of hurting someone else, especially not physically. But, as she had learned, he was indeed capable. As bad off as Ryan looked, she was sure that Hank looked a million times worse. Ryan had hurt him enough to make him leave, after all.

Kelsi took a deep breath as she considered that. On paper, Hank should have won – he was the larger man and as such it would be assumed that he was stronger. But he'd lacked Ryan's passion. That was more than likely what had helped Ryan win the fight, but Kelsi found herself wondering if she had underestimated Ryan's strength. She thought back to how easily he had swept her up into his arms, ignoring the resulting butterflies in her stomach. Ryan had never been what Kelsi would consider weak and had always been in good shape, thanks to his dancing, but she was positive that he hadn't always been so strong. Kelsi felt her lips turn up into a small smile...between Ryan's passion and his strength, Hank hadn't had a chance.

Her smile disappeared as she pursed her lips, considering once more the way Ryan had jumped to save her so quickly. She had believed that he hated her and she couldn't blame him if he did, in light of what she had done to him, but she wondered if she had been wrong. How else could she explain his intensity in the fight? Or, for that matter, how else could she explain how enraged he had been? She huffed as she considered the day as a whole. After the confrontation she'd had with Sharpay and Ryan earlier, it was hard to imagine that he would've been so willing to put himself in danger to save her – but that was exactly what he had done.

Kelsi let out another huff, feeling confused...confused and slightly panicked. Her mind drifted back to their kisses and how out of control they'd both been. Kelsi had known it was a bad idea to kiss him, but she hadn't been able to help herself. That first second she brushed her lips against his had been her downfall. She had been powerless to resist kissing him again, that time pouring all that she was into it. The kisses had served to remind her just how much she had missed him and just how much she loved him. She had thought she knew, but she had once again been wrong. Somehow it seemed like she was always wrong where Ryan was concerned. Being with him again was so much harder than she thought it would be.

She tightened her grip on him automatically as a wave of fear crashed down over her, suddenly petrified to let him go. She had done it once and it had almost killed her. Kelsi had no idea how she'd do it again. She blinked back more tears as it occurred to her that every step they took brought them closer to the hotel. Ryan would put her down as soon as he was able to, she was certain, and the thought of that just about broke her heart. She resisted the urge to snuggle up to him, already feeling the distance that was soon to come between them. It felt ridiculous, but she was missing him already even though they still had the rest of the week together. Her lip quivered and Kelsi knew it was only a matter of time before she broke down. She took a deep breath and found herself wondering how she would make it through the week without telling him that she loved him...and whether or not she wanted to.

Her body seemed to be made up of two warring parts. One part of her wanted to stick to her original plan, which was to make it through the week without begging him to take her back. Up until this afternoon, that had been the part that was largely in control. On the flip side, there was another part of her that wanted to forget about all the stupid promises she had made to herself and tell him how she really felt. That part wanted her to do whatever it took to win him back. Kelsi gulped as she realized that that part was slowly gaining in strength and she feared that it would eventually take over. She bit down hard on her lip as her anxiety increased. Whatever it took, she could not let that part of her take control. She could not allow herself to try to win back the man she loved; no matter how much she loved him. She could not put Ryan through the pain of loving him ever again, she _would_ not. She swallowed another mouthful of air as she studied him. It didn't matter that no woman could ever love Ryan as much as she did. If she could win him back – and that was a big if – she would just turn around and hurt him again...right?

Ryan, meanwhile, had almost stumbled over his own feet when Kelsi's grip on him had tightened. He had no idea why she was holding him so tightly, but at the moment it didn't matter. No, right now his problem was the fact that he had the ridiculous urge to cradle her closer as a result. This was exactly the reason why he hadn't wanted to carry her back to the hotel in the first place. Having Kelsi in his arms felt so much better than it should, considering all she had done to him. She had broken his heart, for heaven's sake, and he should be repelled by her. Kelsi had proven to be a woman he couldn't trust, so why was having her so close so difficult?

He had thought he was doing so well until he had arrived in Vegas. Sure, he had let his heart grow cold and hard in the years since losing Kelsi, but he was doing well. He had gotten a lead role on Broadway and had received wonderful reviews. He had an apartment he loved in the city he'd always dreamed of taking over and he had everything he'd ever wanted...everything, that is, aside from the woman he loved. He scowled at the thought, annoyed with himself. Ever since Kelsi had left him, he had done his best to convince himself that he didn't still love her in the hopes that one day it would be true. He had thought he'd done that...of course, that didn't explain why he kept having to do it, but still. That was part of the reason why he had let himself become so angry and bitter, why he fought so hard to hold onto those feelings: it was easier to tell himself he didn't love her when he was so full of resentment towards her.

Ryan frowned as the unwanted memories of Kelsi pressed up against the wall of that building flashed through his head. He didn't think he had ever been so scared in his entire life. Kelsi's scream had chilled him to the bone and he hadn't been able to reach her fast enough. She had looked so small and so utterly terrified pressed up against that building that it was a wonder that Ryan hadn't torn that...that monster's head off. Ryan felt his jaw clench in anger at the thought of that creep and the way Kelsi had pleaded with him to let her go. As angry as he had become in the past few years, Ryan had no idea that he was capable of such rage. He cradled Kelsi closer instinctively, forgetting that it was exactly what he had been trying _not_ to do. How dare that creep put his hands all over his beloved Kelsi, he fumed to himself.

Ryan's eyes widened at the thought, stunned that it had entered his brain in the first place and it was a wonder that he didn't drop Kelsi in surprise. No doubt seeing her in such danger had jumbled up his brain. As much pain as she had caused him, he certainly didn't want to see her get hurt...or raped...or killed. That was why he had saved her after all, it had nothing to do with him still loving her because he didn't...he couldn't. He had just gotten caught up in the moment...yeah, that was it, he reasoned. Seeing that man threatening Kelsi had kicked Ryan's adrenaline into overdrive and he had naturally done everything he could to rescue her. He would have done the exact same thing for his sister or for Gabriella or Taylor or Martha.

Shoot, he probably would have done the same thing for any woman he ran across in that situation...at least he'd like to think so. Kelsi being his ex-girlfriend had complicated the issue, as it naturally would. He _had _loved her once, loved her with all that he was in fact, so of course those feelings would come rushing back to the surface temporarily – it didn't mean he _still_ loved her. He nodded, trying to ignore the holes in his logic and not quite succeeding as his thoughts drifted towards the kisses. Yeah...those hadn't exactly helped matters, but then he hadn't been the one who had initiated them.

Ryan frowned as he considered that. He may have debated kissing her before that first kiss, but she had been the one to actually start it. His heartbeat sped up as he recalled the passion she had poured into that kiss. It had been like she had simply been unable to help herself, especially once her lips had made contact with his. Of course...while Kelsi could be blamed for the first kiss, the fault for the second kiss was his. Kissing her had been a mistake...a wonderful, incredible, mind-blowing mistake, but a mistake nonetheless. His mouth grew dry as he remembered the way she had moaned against his lips, straining to pull herself as close to him as she could. Earlier his blood had boiled with rage at the sight of little Kelsi pressed up against the wall, but during that kiss his blood had boiled with passion.

He didn't think he had ever experienced such an extreme loss of control in his life. Even during the fight he felt like he had held onto some semblance of control, albeit a small amount. But the very idea of control had been nonexistent while he had been kissing Kelsi. It was like some sort of addiction and he hadn't been able to get enough. The kiss had ended and she'd told him she needed him and it took all his strength to remember that they were in an alleyway when they kissed again...otherwise things might have easily escalated to the next level. Ryan scowled as he thought of how Jason and Martha had spoiled the impromptu make out session with Kelsi, though he knew that it was probably a good thing that they had shown up.

After all, their presence had jolted Ryan right back into reality. He had lost sight of it while kissing Kelsi, too wrapped up in her to see anything else. It had been like having cold water thrown on them, and a part of him was grateful. Another part of him was infuriated, wanting nothing more than to continue what he had been doing before being so rudely interrupted. And then a third part of him had been instantly confused. If looking at Kelsi had been difficult the day before, looking at her after they had shared such intense kisses was nearly impossible. For some reason, the thought of looking into Kelsi's eyes terrified him. Maybe it was because he wasn't sure what she'd see when she looked into his eyes...or maybe it had more to do with not knowing what he'd see when he looked in hers.

From the time Kelsi had left him up until arriving in Vegas, Ryan'd had his moments of doubt as far as Kelsi was concerned. Most of the time he believed what she'd told him the day she'd broken his heart...he believed that she'd never loved him. Her actions that day had spoken volumes at the time, as had the fact that she had never tried to contact him in the years since. Most of the time, it was easy to believe that everything she'd said that day was the truth. But then there were other times...times when he'd think about the relationship they'd shared and been positive that what they'd had was real – in which case it would mean that Kelsi _had_ loved him. If _that_ was true, than there had to be another reason why she would've felt the need to leave him.

Ryan's brow furrowed as he recalled all the times he had wondered if there was something else behind Kelsi's behavior that day. Every time those thoughts came, he'd have to resist the urge to chase after her...to find out if she had run away from him out of fear, and _not_ because she didn't love him. He never let himself linger on those thoughts for too long, however, because in some ways it was easier to believe she'd never loved him. After all, if she had she never would've been able to hurt him so deeply...right?

The memory of his earlier discussion with Taylor and Sharpay filled his mind and he frowned. He didn't like to admit it, but Taylor's theories about Kelsi made sense. He had been stunned to learn that Kelsi had seen a therapist after leaving him. Something had definitely been wrong with her in that case. Maybe it did have something to do with her mother, he nodded. Maybe Kelsi really _had _been trying to protect him from something, like Taylor had proposed. If Taylor's theories were correct, than Kelsi _had_ been in love with him, but maybe hadn't felt deserving of him. Kelsi may have been positive that she'd have no choice but to leave him and sincerely thought he'd be better off if she left him sooner as opposed to later.

Ryan let his eyes close briefly as an unexpected wave of grief crashed over him. If all of that was true, then Ryan had let Kelsi down. Because if Kelsi genuinely believed any of that, then Ryan should have done everything in his power to convince her that she was wrong. He paused momentarily, suddenly disgusted with himself. Why had it been so easy to convince himself that everything Kelsi had said that day was true? Why had he let her words negate everything they had shared together? Okay, so he had been upset and heartbroken...Kelsi's words had crushed him, after all...but did that excuse his own behavior? The more he thought about it, the more he thought she had been putting on an act that day and the more he thought about _that_, the more he hated himself.

He should've fought harder for her – even if what she'd said was the truth, he still should have fought. He'd been ready to spend the rest of his life with her, but he hadn't been willing to hop on a plane to Albuquerque to try to win her back? The realization was almost more than he could bear...as was the one that followed. He didn't know if Taylor's theories were correct or not, though he was starting to believe that they were, but he knew that she was right about one thing: he could deny the truth to himself as much as he wanted to, but that didn't mean it wasn't true. He was still hopelessly in love with Kelsi Nielson.

Didn't his actions that day prove it? Ignore that he would've rushed to the aid of any other woman in danger...that didn't explain the all-consuming rage he'd felt at the sight of that man's hands on Kelsi. He recalled the way Kelsi had flung herself on the other man's back with no hesitation, even though she would have known that she was no match for him. The fact that she'd done that seemed to add more weight to Taylor's theories. If Kelsi had never loved him, how could she be so willing to put herself in danger for him? Ryan gulped as he remembered the way Kelsi's small body had gone flying before hitting the wall and crashing to the ground like some sort of rag doll.

The sight had filled Ryan with such rage that he had come this close to doing the unthinkable – his hands had been at the other man's throat, for heaven's sake! Ryan had no doubt in his mind that he had come very close to killing another man, even if the impulse had only lasted for a few seconds. He had been right...the other man had lost the fight by then and Ryan couldn't help feeling like he would've just let the man go if it had been any other woman. He would've beaten him up all the same, but he wouldn't have come so close to committing murder. The fact that he had reached that point spoke volumes. In those few seconds, Ryan would have rather ended someone's life than let that someone so much as look at Kelsi ever again.

Ryan felt the sting of tears as he thought back to how close he had come to losing Kelsi that day. He pictured Kelsi being rolled out to an ambulance with a blanket covering her and it was all he could do not to drop to the ground in agony. The image was more than he could take and so he focused instead on the fact that Kelsi was safe and alive in his arms. He felt her eyes on his face and was unable to resist meeting her gaze, watching as those beautiful eyes of hers widened at the sight of his. "Ryan," she whispered his name, surprising him by placing her hand on his cheek.

"Kelsi...I..." He took a deep breath, feeling what seemed like a dozen emotions flooding his body at once. The most prominent being love, though he couldn't help feeling confused as well. He felt like he was on a roller coaster and had no idea where he'd end up. He was certain that he was still in love with Kelsi, but looking into her eyes, he was unsurprised to find feelings of doubt mix into his stew of emotions. Ryan's feelings for Kelsi didn't change the fact that she had deliberately trampled all over his heart. Even if Taylor's theories were correct, Kelsi had still hurt him that day even if it had been some twisted way of protecting him. He couldn't just pretend it didn't bother him anymore...it had to be dealt with.

It was becoming obvious that he and Kelsi needed to talk. If Taylor was right, then Kelsi and Ryan had a lot to work through. Kelsi with her possibly still lingering issues and Ryan with his leftover anger and fear. The trust between them had been destroyed that day and it would take time to rebuild. Meanwhile, if Taylor was wrong and if everything Kelsi had said that day had been the truth...Ryan frowned, not wanting to think about that possibility at the moment. Regardless of what the truth was, it all came back to the fact that Ryan and Kelsi needed to talk.

"Ryan?" Kelsi repeated his name, intrigued and confused by the stream of emotions she saw flickering across his face.

"Kelsi..." Ryan sighed, glancing up and feeling his eyes widen in surprise. "We're...we're back at the hotel," he finished lamely, hating the way her face fell.

"Oh," Kelsi replied quietly, feeling oddly disappointed though she had no idea why. "Thanks for carrying me back." Ryan nodded in response, confusion taking over as the reigning emotion in his body. He carried her into the hotel, suppressing a groan as he saw the remaining Wildcats in the lobby. He glanced up at the clock on the wall, assuming that they'd just come back from lunch.

"This oughta be interesting," he muttered.

"Oh boy," Kelsi whispered. "I think you might be right."


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: See? I haven't forgotten about this story. ;) I know some of you have been waiting a really long time for this chapter and I'm so sorry about that. It's been hard trying to juggle real life _and_ all my various stories at once. Sometimes some stories flow better than others and so get updated more often, but I'm going to do my best to keep the updates coming more frequently. I hope that this chapter is worth the wait. It's basically the other Wildcats reactions to seeing Ryan and Kelsi (for the most part) and then it leads into a much needed conversation between two of the four main characters. It's something that had to happen so that the story could progress the way it needs to. And for the sake of the story, let's just say that the elevator feature in this chapter is one of the slowest in the world, ha. It'd have to be because the conversation that takes place in it goes on for quite a while. I know a lot of you are waiting for the next Ryan/Kelsi interaction and it's coming, I just had to get this one out of the way. And I'm pretty positive that the next chapter will feature a much needed discussion between Zeke and Sharpay. May be combing through here later for mistakes (I have a feeling there may be a bunch) and if you happen to notice any (spelling and grammar related ones, to be specific), please let me know so I can fix 'em. Thanks. Hope you enjoy the chapter. Let me know! Remember, reviews = love. :)  
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**"Oh dear," Martha muttered as she joined Kelsi and Ryan. Her gaze went instantly to Chad and Troy and she pressed her hand to the back of Ryan's shoulder in a show of support, knowing just how protective the other two were of Kelsi. She bit her lip as Gabriella happened to glance over, watching as her friend's mouth formed a worried 'o' shape.

"Uh-oh," Jason mumbled, noticing Gabriella at the same time his wife did. "In five...four...three...two..." He trailed off, pointing to Gabriella at the exact second she gasped.

"Oh my goodness!" Gabriella cried a split second later, hurrying towards Jason and the others. "What happened!?"

"My God," Taylor piped up, right on Gabriella's heels. "Did you two attack each other? Or what?"

"What the hell did you do to my brother?!" Sharpay screeched, causing Kelsi to wince. Kelsi had been too busy focusing on Chad and Troy, like Martha had, that she hadn't given conscious thought to the fact that Sharpay was with them.

"Oh come on," Zeke scoffed before Kelsi could respond, making the composer's eyes widen in surprise – somehow she had failed to notice him too. "I think the question we should be asking is what the hell did your brother do to her?!"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Sharpay demanded, whirling around towards her ex-boyfriend. She had been so caught up in finding Kelsi after her chat with Taylor and Ryan and had been annoyed to find out that Kelsi had gone for a walk. She had then stormed up to her hotel room to kill some time, which she had, until Gabriella had called and insisted that she join them for lunch. Sharpay had refused at first, but somehow Gabriella had managed to convince her, even volunteering to meet Sharpay by the elevators. Of course, Sharpay had nearly run from the restaurant when she saw Chad heading to the table with Zeke.

It had been funny...Sharpay desperately wanted to talk to Zeke on this trip and had felt a brief desire to go find him while talking with Taylor and Ryan, but seeing him for the first time after their fight had been surprisingly difficult. The things he had said to and about her had been painful...so painful that she wasn't sure how to approach their first conversation. Which had meant that she and Zeke had sat as far away from each other as possible, focusing on talking to the others while avoiding each other completely. Of course, Sharpay had spent the entire time sneaking glances at Zeke, even catching him looking at her sometimes. Lunch had been awkward, to say the least.

Now, the rest of the group had been discussing what they wanted to do next when Gabriella had caught sight of Jason and Martha, accompanied by Ryan and Kelsi who both looked as if they had come straight out of a war zone. Sharpay had felt instant concern for her twin and so had naturally lashed out at Kelsi, though she hadn't counted on Zeke jumping in. "Look at her, Sharpay," Zeke said harshly, forcing Sharpay back into the present. "She looks like hell."

"Yeah, and Ryan looks _so_ good," she shot back.

"You really think that Kelsi did all that to him?" Zeke countered, gesturing towards Ryan. "Little Kelsi? Get real."

"And what, you think my brother is capable of attacking a woman? Are you serious?!" she yelped.

"Guys, stop it," Martha ordered. "Ryan and Kelsi didn't do this to each other! Kelsi got attacked by that creepy guy that was hanging all over her last night. Ryan saved her life...and got beaten up in the process," she explained.

"Are you guys okay?" Gabriella asked amidst all of the gasps of surprise and anger coming from the others. Her worried eyes flickered back and forth between Ryan and Kelsi as she spoke.

"I think I can safely speak for both of us when I say that we've felt better," Ryan answered, shifting Kelsi in his arms slightly. The movement made him suck a mouthful of air, however, as it had caused an unexpected pain to rush through him. He'd been too distracted to give much thought to the way he was feeling, he realized. First, it'd been his extreme concern for Kelsi after the fight, then it'd been the amazing kisses they'd shared, and finally, it'd been his thoughts about her on their way back that had kept him so distracted. Now, however, he was all too aware of all the pains flooding his entire body.

"Are you okay?" Kelsi whispered, sounding concerned.

"I'm fine," he said sharply, though he winced a second later. "Can someone take Kelsi? I feel like my arms might give out on me," he admitted, genuinely concerned that he'd accidentally drop her.

"I'll take her," Troy spoke up quietly, stepping forward and holding his arms out. "Come here, Playmaker."

"Oh..." Kelsi frowned sadly, not wanting to be separated from Ryan so soon. She felt Ryan move to put her in Troy's waiting arms, though she could hardly see from the tears that were now clouding her vision. She wrapped one aching arm around Troy's neck, but kept the other around Ryan, reluctant to let him go.

"Let go," Ryan ordered, though his voice was gentle. She barely managed a nod as she forced herself to let go of him and hold onto Troy instead. She bit her lip as Ryan stepped away, turning her face towards Troy as she valiantly fought to keep from breaking down.

"Are you all right?" Troy asked, softly.

"It hurts," she whimpered, her tear-filled eyes meeting his as her lip quivered. At that point she was talking more about letting go of Ryan than her physical pain. "It really hurts." She watched as a wave of sympathy washed over Troy's face, giving her the impression that he somehow knew what she really meant.

"I'm sorry," he whispered before looking up in time to see Ryan clench his fists while his eyes closed in what looked like agony.

"We, um," Ryan sucked down another mouthful of air, struggling not to read too much into Kelsi's answer to Troy's question. "Someone should get the hotel to call the doctor they have on call," he said brusquely. "Kels...Kelsi needs to be seen."

"I'll do it," Taylor volunteered, immediately leaving the group to head to the front desk.

"You _both_ need to be seen," Gabriella corrected.

"I'm fine," Ryan muttered.

"Ugh," Sharpay groaned, her eyes narrowing at Kelsi in Troy's arms. "You just can't stop hurting my brother can you?" she said coldly. She knew it was unfair to blame Kelsi, but she couldn't seem to help herself. "First, you break his heart and then you get him beaten up. Do you enjoy seeing him in pain or what?"

"That's enough, Sharpay," Ryan snapped. "It wasn't Kelsi's fault."

"I...I didn't..." Kelsi shook her head at Sharpay, ignoring how doing so seemed to make the ache in her head worse. "I'm...I'm sorry he got hurt...if I could...I wish...I wish it'd just been me who got hurt," she managed, barely able to speak over the lump in her throat.

"You _did_ get hurt," Ryan reminded her angrily. It was all he could do not to snatch Kelsi back into his arms to comfort her, barely able to stand listening to her struggling so much. "Much worse than I did, so don't you dare tell my sister you wish it'd just been you! That guy was going to kill you and you know it. If I hadn't of shown up, you'd probably be in a body bag right now. I could care less that I got hurt...my getting hurt is what saved your life. So stop being sorry." He struggled to keep the harshness in his voice, lest he reveal his true feelings for her.

"B-but...I..." she stammered, her voice shaking uncontrollably. "I am s-sorry."

"So am I," Ryan shot back, his hands lifting up and towards her almost on their own accord. He set his jaw and ran his hands through his messy hair instead, fighting to maintain control of himself.

"Man...You're a real piece of work, aren't you, Sharpay?" Zeke chuckled, though it was completely devoid of any humor. "It's not Kelsi's fault she got attacked! Shoot, if you and Ryan hadn't of gotten her so upset earlier, she never would've needed to go out for fresh air."

"Oh, so now it's _Ryan's_ fault?!" Sharpay countered.

"Knock it off!" Chad yelled, frustrated with both of them. "What happened wasn't Kelsi _or_ Ryan's fault. You want to blame someone; blame the guy that attacked her!"

"Seriously," Martha chimed in. "I know you guys have your issues and all, but come on."

"And besides," Jason spoke up. "If Ryan and Kelsi can kiss and make up, so can you two." A slightly evil smirk appeared on his face a second later. "Or maybe I should've said if they can kiss and make _out_. Yeah," he nodded, mostly to himself, "that's much more fitting."

"What do you mean?" Gabriella asked, confused.

"Like...making out making out?" Chad wanted to know, his eyebrows lifting in surprise.

"Yup," Jason answered cheerfully.

"Ugh...thanks for sharing that with the group, Jason," Ryan groaned.

"You're welcome!" Jason replied.

"Are you serious?" Zeke asked, stunned. "Kelsi, why in the world would you want to make out with him? Especially after what happened this morning."

"I think the question should be why would my brother want to make out with _her_? Seriously Ryan?" Sharpay gaped at her twin.

"Me and Kelsi may have kissed..." Ryan said meekly, wincing at the look on Sharpay's face. "It was just a little kiss."

"A little kiss? Please...you guys looked like you were about two seconds away from ripping each other's clothes off," Jason rolled his eyes.

"Okay...as soon as I'm feeling better, I'm beating the crap out of you," Ryan muttered to Jason.

"Not if I do it first," Kelsi mumbled.

"You...her...you..." Zeke took a deep breath. "So, let me see if I understand this. Kelsi gets attacked. You saved her and then you start making out...on the street?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Jason answered before Ryan or Kelsi could. "They were in an alley."

"Oh eww," Sharpay wrinkled her nose. "An alley, Ry? Seriously? There were probably rats and stuff out there."

"I wasn't thinking about that," Ryan admitted as Taylor rejoined the group.

"Okay, guys, the hotel has called the doctor and he's on his way. I told them to send him to your room, Kelsi, so Troy, you might want to carry her up there. And Ryan? The doctor will go to your room, too, if you want, but it might be easier if you just go to Kelsi's room too," Taylor told them.

"Uh-oh. Are you sure you want the two of them to be in a room with a bed?" Jason quipped, earning him a smack from his wife and a glare from Ryan. Kelsi, for her part, kept her gaze trained on Troy's shoulder, too embarrassed to look at anyone else. "Don't want them getting any ideas, you know," Jason added, wickedly.

"Jason? Stop talking," Martha advised. "Just stop."

"Why?" Jason asked innocently. "I'm just talking, here."

"You're not helping," Martha informed him.

"What?" Taylor blinked at them before turning her attention to Ryan. "What was that supposed to mean?"

"That means that my brother and Kelsi were making out when Jason and Martha found them. Making out and about to tear each other's clothes off, according to Jason. In an alley," Sharpay cringed. "A disgusting, most likely rat infested, alley."

"Are...are you serious?" Taylor's jaw dropped.

"Yes, okay, it happened. Kelsi and I got caught up in the moment after the fight and made out a little. It happened and now it's over. Okay?" Ryan snapped. "It...it didn't mean anything," he added, though his tone wasn't quite as convincing as he'd hoped. "Right Kelsi?"

"Troy," Kelsi said quietly, too hurt by Ryan's statement to answer him. "I want to clean up a little before the doctor gets here. Can you take me up to my room?"

"Sure," he said gently.

"I'll come," Gabriella offered. "Ryan?"

"I'll be up in a minute," Ryan frowned, trying to make sense of Kelsi's non-answer.

"So...you leave to go talk to Kelsi and you end up making out," Chad smirked as Troy, Kelsi, and Gabriella headed towards the elevators. "Nice."

"It is _not_ nice, Chad," Taylor scoffed. "The two of them don't need to be kissing each other now! They have too much to work out."

"How could you kiss her, Ryan? Especially after what you told me and Taylor earlier. I thought you didn't love her anymore," Sharpay huffed. "Was that a lie? Or have you just been in denial?"

"I don't feel like talking about this now, Sharpay," Ryan answered softly. "I'm going to go wash up before I go to Kelsi's room to get looked at."

"We're talking about this later," she informed him.

"We'll see," Ryan shrugged. "Guys." With that, he left them to head to the elevators.

"You know what? I bet that those two will be back together by the end of the trip," Jason declared. "I gotta feeling."

"You might be right about that," Taylor mused thoughtfully. "But only if they set aside some time to talk about what went wrong between them." She turned her focus to Sharpay. "Just like another couple of people I know," she added pointedly, inclining her head towards Zeke.

"What's she talking about?" Zeke asked Sharpay, surprised when his ex-girlfriend gulped.

"It means we have to talk," she said quietly.

"Oh...well, in that case I agree," he nodded. "Later," he promised.

"What's wrong with right now?" she asked as her brow furrowed in confusion.

"Right now I have to have a chat with your brother," he informed her. He started to head towards the elevators to go after Ryan, but paused, turning back to her for a moment. "Though first...I'm sorry for what I called you earlier. You're not a tramp, Sharpay. You never have been and I don't believe you could ever be one. It was a horrible thing to say and I'm sorry I said it. I hope you can forgive me."

"I...I do," Sharpay managed a second later, stunned by his apology. "Thank you...thank you for saying that."

"You're welcome," he replied, maintaining his eye contact with her for another couple of beats. "I _do_ want to talk later."

"Me too," she nodded. "Maybe...maybe we can talk before dinner?"

"Okay," he agreed before leaving the group to head to the elevators.

"Before dinner, huh?" Taylor asked Sharpay, smiling when the blonde looked over at her. "That's soon. Are you sure you're ready?"

"Not really," Sharpay admitted sheepishly. "But...but it's going to be hard whenever we talk so sooner is probably better than later."

"I agree," Taylor smiled. "You'll be fine."

"I hope so," Sharpay sighed.

-----------------

"About time," Ryan muttered once one of the elevators finally reached the lobby after he had been waiting for what'd felt like forever. He got on the elevator and pressed the button for his floor, watching as the doors began to slide shut. But before they could close all the way, someone stuck their hand between them to make them open again.

"Good, I caught you." Ryan frowned as Zeke stepped into the elevator. "We have to talk."

"About?" Ryan asked shortly. The last thing he wanted to do was have a discussion with his sister's ex-boyfriend, but Zeke was apparently giving him no choice.

"My wife," Zeke answered coldly, causing Ryan to bristle. "You know, your ex-girlfriend?"

"Watch it," Ryan warned him. "I'm not in the mood."

"Hey, I'm just stating facts here," Zeke shrugged. "It's not my fault if you don't like them." He waited a beat before continuing. "Here's another fact for you: I don't like how you're treating her."

"Yeah? Well I don't like how you've been treating my sister," Ryan countered. "So I guess that makes us even."

"Fair enough," Zeke conceded. "Though for what it's worth? I told Sharpay I was sorry for calling her a tramp," he informed him. "That was out of line."

"Way out of line," Ryan agreed. He sighed as he studied Zeke. "I apologized to Kelsi for calling her one too."

"Good," Zeke nodded. "She didn't deserve that. In fact, she didn't deserve any of the horrible things you said to her earlier."

"Funny, I was thinking the same thing about everything you said to Sharpay earlier," Ryan shot back.

"Okay, look, we can talk about Sharpay in a minute. Let's talk about Kelsi now," Zeke offered.

"Here's a thought. How about you get off at the next floor and leave me the hell alone?" Ryan snapped. "I told you. I'm not in the mood."

"Tough," Zeke replied. "Look, man, I know you may not believe it, but what happened with me and Kelsi was a mistake. We were stupid and acted recklessly, I admit it. We're getting our marriage annulled as soon as she feels up to it, but for the moment, for all intents and purposes, she is my wife. And as such, I feel a need to defend her when people attack her."

"Are you serious?" Ryan was incredulous. "You guys got drunk and stumbled off to some wedding chapel to get married, which you _just_ said was a mistake. But, even in spite of that, you actually think you have some claim on her as her husband? Really Zeke?"

"I _am_ her husband and I will _stay_ her husband until our marriage is officially annulled," Zeke said calmly. "Speaking as both her husband _and_ her friend – which I will remain even after we're no longer married – I don't like the way you're treating her."

"Yeah, you're right," Ryan said sarcastically. "How dare I step in and save her life like that! I should've just let her get murdered."

"I'm talking about earlier. You said some pretty vile things to her, Ryan, or have you forgotten?" Zeke's eyes narrowed. "You made her cry and for what? To pay her back for what she did to you?" he huffed. "Was it worth it? Seeing her so upset...was it worth it? Do you feel better now?"

"Kelsi said some pretty awful things herself, if I'm remembering right," Ryan said weakly.

"And that makes what you said okay?" Zeke challenged.

"You know, Zeke, I'm listening to you right now and I'm having a hard time taking you seriously. You want to condemn me for how I talked to Kelsi? How about how you talked to Sharpay earlier? Was that okay?" Ryan shot back.

"No," Zeke said softly. "No, it wasn't."

"It wasn't," Ryan repeated. "And yet you still want to judge me for what I did? What's the difference?"

"Kelsi is my wife," Zeke replied.

"And Sharpay is my sister," Ryan retorted. "Not to mention the fact that you're in love with her. Or at least that's what you led me to believe. Coming here and marrying someone else kind of makes me wonder."

"I _am_ in love with Sharpay, Ryan, the same way I was when we were in high school. I've been trying to chase her down for the past three years, as you are well aware. Marrying Kelsi _was_ a mistake. I just...I saw Sharpay with all those guys, and she was acting so...so _un-_Sharpay-like and something in me snapped. I don't know, man. I felt like I had two choices. Keep drinking like I was or march over to her and cause a big scene to figure out what the hell she was doing," Zeke said, his jaw clenching. "I decided that getting into a big fight at a club probably wasn't the best idea, so I kept drinking. My memories from the time I left the club with Kelsi are hazy at best. Same for her. Finding out we had gotten married was a huge shock to both of us, and it was something we didn't want anyone finding out about," he admitted. "But Kelsi had been talking to Martha, who told Jason, but Martha ended up accidentally blurting it out. And then you and Sharpay showed up..."

"She was trying to make you jealous," Ryan said quietly, surprising Zeke.

"Excuse me?" Zeke asked.

"Sharpay. That's why she acted the way she did last night," Ryan chucked humorlessly. "She'll probably kill me when she finds out I'm telling you this, but the reason she behaved the way she did last night was to make you jealous. She was hoping you'd get mad and come to her rescue. Only..."

"Only what?" Zeke pressed, intrigued by the revelation.

"According to her, seeing you was harder than she thought it would be, so she had a few shots to calm herself down. And then the guys she was dancing with kept buying her drink and she kept sipping at them," Ryan told him. "I probably shouldn't tell you this, but we saw you leave the club with Kelsi...only we didn't know it was Kelsi. Sharpay was...well, she was heartbroken. And then to come down to the lobby and find out that you and Kelsi had gotten married..."

"I didn't mean to hurt her," Zeke said honestly as he tried to wrap his mind around all that Ryan had shared with him. "Even after all the hurt she's inflicted on me. I don't know what made her leave me all those years ago, but it's never changed the way I felt." He paused as he studied Ryan, shaking his head. "You look like hell, by the way," he said, changing gears.

"Feel like it too," Ryan admitted.

"Why'd you do it?" Zeke asked. "Go through so much trouble to save Kelsi, I mean."

"What, you mean after what she did?" Ryan wanted to know, rolling his eyes when Zeke nodded. "Give me some credit, Zeke. Yeah, Kelsi broke my heart all those years ago but it doesn't mean I want her to be killed."

"Must have been one hell of a fight," Zeke decided, taking into account the way Ryan's face and hands were all scratched up. In addition to that, Ryan's hair practically resembled a bird's nest and his clothes were all rumbled and filthy.

"You could say that," Ryan huffed. "I _did_ almost kill a man, after all."

"You what?" Zeke's eyes widened in surprise.

"I saw Kelsi pressed up against the wall of the building, unable to move. I listened to her beg him to let her go and I saw the complete and utter terror in her eyes." Ryan's jaw tightened. "I yelled for him to let her go and when he didn't, I attacked him. I had to get him away from Kelsi. It got pretty bad...it wasn't an easy fight, but I wasn't about to stop until he was unable to hurt her again. And then he knocked me down and was advancing on me and I could barely breathe...and the next thing I know, Kelsi was throwing herself on his back trying to save me. He kept trying to knock her off, but she held on for as long as she could until he managed to grab her and throw her. She slammed into the wall of the building and then crashed onto the ground." Ryan choked down a mouthful of air, struggling to speak around the lump that had formed in his throat.

"She was just laying there, Zeke. Barely moving and he was moving towards her to hurt her again. So I threw myself at him and started beating the hell out of him." Ryan had kept his eyes trained on the floor of the elevator while he spoke, but now he lifted them to meet Zeke's. "You know what that asshole said?"

"What?" Zeke asked hesitantly, taken aback by the expression on Ryan's face.

"He looked me in the eye and said...and I quote, 'little bitch deserved everything she got'," Ryan paused as Zeke cursed angrily in response. "The next thing I knew my hands were at his throat. The fight was over by that point, he'd lost and I knew it...but it didn't matter. I wanted to kill him...I swear I almost did. There was no way in hell that I was going to let him hurt her again."

"Oh my God," Zeke muttered as studied Ryan, shock registering throughout his being as realization hit. "Jason was right."

"Now there's three words you don't hear often," Ryan quipped, surprising them both. "Right about what?"

"You're still in love with Kelsi," Zeke replied, smirking. Ryan sighed, trying to decide if it was better to deny it or to just go ahead and admit it, knowing that Zeke could see the truth for himself.

"Yeah," he said finally. "I figured that out on the walk back."

"What are you planning on doing about it?" Zeke wanted to know.

"I..." Ryan trailed off, pondering the question. "I don't know. On one hand, okay yes, I'm in love with her, but...but that doesn't change the fact that she deliberately broke my heart. How can I just let that go?"

"You can't," Zeke said simply. "You have to deal with it so you can move on." He hesitated for a moment, debating if he should ask the question that had just come to mind. "Can I ask you something?"

"I guess," Ryan answered, somewhat warily.

"I know Kelsi hurt you. I don't know _why_ she hurt you, but I know she did. But...but you guys had been together, for what..." Zeke did the math in his head. "Two years?"

"About," Ryan replied quietly, wondering where Zeke was going.

"Two years," Zeke repeated. "And up until the day she left you, things had been wonderful, had they not? I mean, I saw the two of you together, I saw how in love you guys were with each other. So...so, how could you just let it all go? How could you let _her_ go?"

"She didn't give me much choice," Ryan answered bitterly. "She got on a plane and left."

"But you had to know where she'd be going," Zeke countered. "You had to have known that she'd go back home to Albuquerque. So why didn't you go after her?"

"She broke my heart...actually, no, she didn't just break it, she broke it and them stamped it into the ground, leaving it in tiny, little bloody pieces," Ryan managed, his voice suddenly thick with emotion. "I could barely function at first. I stopped going to my classes, I stopped going to work. I had gone from living to merely surviving. Just kind of going through the motions, you know? I couldn't have gotten on a plane even if I'd wanted to."

"Okay...I can understand that. Really, I can," Zeke nodded. "But it's been five years. Five years without so much as a conversation. What about all the times you've gone home to visit your parents? It would have been so easy for you to stop by Kelsi's house to talk to her. But you never did." Zeke shook his head, suddenly frustrated. "I just don't get it. Do you know how much I would've loved to have been in your position the past few years? When Sharpay left me, I had no idea where she went! I've spent the last three years looking for her, trying to figure out how to find her without any idea of where she'd go. You're so lucky, Ryan. You have no idea what it's like to have no clue where the woman you love is. If I'd known where Sharpay was going when she left me, I would've been there later the same day. But you...you could've found Kelsi any time you wanted to. So why didn't you go after her?"

Ryan frowned as he considered the question, wanting to yell at Zeke for having the nerve to ask it, but knowing he couldn't. Hadn't he asked himself that same question on the way back to the hotel? "I wish I could answer that," he replied, finally. "I honestly don't know. I was going to propose to her, you know. I was willing to spend the rest of my life with her, but...but I couldn't get on a plane to go after her." He studied Zeke, a thoughtful expression on a face. "You asked me why I didn't go after Kelsi and I don't know how to answer the question because I can't figure it out myself. But there's something else I can't figure out."

"What's that?" Zeke wanted to know.

"After what Sharpay did to you," Ryan began. "How could you have been so willing to chase her down? I mean...Sharpay and Kelsi pretty much did the exact same thing. Only I can't bring myself to go over my girl...after Kelsi," he corrected quickly. "But you can't go after yours fast enough. Why? Why did you go after her so soon and why have you never given up? Even after what she did."

"That's a good question," Zeke acknowledged. "Sharpay walking out on me was devastating. I'm not going to lie and say it wasn't and I'm also not going to lie and say that it didn't hurt or that I wasn't angry about it. There's been times I've wanted to find her just so I could yell at her for leaving. But...but I don't know, man. I guess I decided that my love for her was bigger and more important than my pain or my anger," he shrugged. "Sharpay has never been the easiest person in the world to love. She's complicated and difficult. She has a bad habit of pushing people away, particularly people who are good for her. Sharpay is far from being perfect, but that's never mattered to me. There is no way for me to exist without being in love with her. Loving her comes as naturally to me as breathing. It doesn't seem to matter how hurt I am or how angry I am. My love for her overshadows them both."

"Maybe that answers my question," Ryan said sadly. "Maybe I didn't go after Kelsi because I don't love her enough." He closed his eyes against the pain that flooded his body over the possibility.

"I don't think so," Zeke said quietly.

"Why not?" Ryan demanded.

"What scared you the most about seeing Kelsi pressed up against that wall?" Zeke asked a moment later.

"The possibility that I could lose her," Ryan replied, so softly that Zeke barely heard him. "On the way back here I got this image of her being zipped up in a body bad and it was...God..." He pressed his fist to his mouth for a moment. "It's more than I can bear to think of," he managed. "A world without Kelsi in it..."

"See?" Zeke gave him a sad smile. "The reason you didn't go after Kelsi isn't that you didn't love her enough. Maybe...maybe you were afraid of what you'd find if you did."

"Meaning?" Ryan asked.

"Well...what if you'd gone after her to find that she'd moved on and forgotten about you?" Zeke asked, answering the question before Ryan could. "You would have known that things were definitely over between you two and that you'd have to move on too. Or, what if you'd gone after her to find her completely miserable without you? I almost think that'd be worse. On one hand, you love her so you'd hate seeing her suffering. And on the other hand, you'd have to figure out how to reconcile the fact that she really did love you, but hurt you anyway. Maybe...maybe it's easier to stay away...maybe it's easier not to know."

"That didn't stop you from trying to find my sister," Ryan pointed out. "Which I guess tells us who the better man is."

"Or the dumbest," Zeke chuckled, though it was mostly without humor. "I don't know. Sometimes I wonder if it's pathetic to keep trying to hunt down a girl who fled the city after I proposed to her. I don't think either one of us is better than the other," he decided.

"Man," Ryan sighed as the elevator finally reached his floor. "When did life get so complicated?"

"The second we graduated from high school," Zeke replied, following Ryan off the elevator. "I'll let you go now, but first...I'm sorry about what happened with me and Kelsi. I'm sorry that it hurt Sharpay and I'm sorry that it hurt you."

"It was a mistake," Ryan conceded. "You don't have to apologize."

"Even still," Zeke argued, studying Ryan for a moment before slowly extending his hand to him. "Friends?"

"Friends," Ryan agreed, lifting his own hand to shake Zeke's.

"Good. Because I don't have a chance in hell with Sharpay if you hate me," Zeke joked, a grin flashing across his face before he grew somber again. "We agreed to get together to talk before dinner...Sharpay and I..." he trailed off.

"Good," Ryan nodded. "I...I hope you guys can work everything out."

"Me too. Ryan?," Zeke began. "You've gone five years without the woman you love. Five years and now you're stuck in the same hotel for a week. Earlier today you saved her life and you kissed...maybe not the brightest idea in the world, but...but don't try to pretend it didn't happen. She deserves better than that. _You_ deserve better than that. The fact that it happened says a lot. You have a major opportunity here, Ryan. Don't waste it. Talk to Kelsi. Tell her you love her and see if you can work out and get through whatever it was that made her leave." He paused. "Though I should warn you... you and I are friends and I'm in love with your sister, but I feel an obligation to Kelsi as both her friend and, for the time being, her husband. By all means say whatever you need to say to her, but I'm warning you. If you hurt her again, if you hurt her the way you hurt her this morning, then you're going to have to answer to me. I'm not saying I think you will, but I _am_ saying that I'm on her side should that happen."

"Fair enough," Ryan responded, pausing for a couple of beats. "You do realize that the same goes for me, right? In regards to Sharpay, that is. You and I _are_ friends, but she's my sister, and as such, if you should happen to hurt her the way you did earlier, I'm going to be on _her_ side. If that happens, then _you're_ going to have to answer to _me_."

"Understood," Zeke nodded. "Though I should tell you that I have absolutely no intention of ever hurting Sharpay like I did before."

"I know," Ryan said softly. "But I had to say it."

"I know," Zeke replied with another nod before a smirk appeared on his face. "Go get cleaned up, would ya? You really _do_ look like hell."

"Gee, thanks," Ryan said wryly.

"Anytime," Zeke quipped.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: It's back! I was stunned to realize that it's been over 6 months since I updated this! I know I haven't been doing much updating lately and I'm sorry about that. First I lost my writing mojo and then I've had a lot of things to deal with in real life that also interfered with my writing. I'd like to say that I'm back in full writing mode, but I don't want to make any promises. I might get this or another one of my stories updated in the near future or it might take a while. I ask that you all please stay patient with me and trust me when I say that I have every intention to finish each of the HSM stories I've been working on. It opens up with Ryan, Kelsi, Troy & Gabriella, as you'll see, but the bulk of this chapter is devoted to Zeke and Sharpay. I figured that they deserved it, especially since most of the focus has been on Ryan and Kelsi so far. Thanks so much to everyone who reads this! Especially if you've been waiting for an update! I really, really appreciate the support and I hope that it was worth the wait! Let me know. :-)**

* * *

Ryan left his hotel room feeling about a thousand times better than he did when he entered it. He'd taken a quick shower and the hot water had done wonders for his aching body, though it hadn't taken away his pain completely. He'd arranged to have what he'd been wearing washed by the hotel's laundry service before he'd left. Ryan stuck his hotel room key in his pocket as he headed to Kelsi's hotel room, grateful that Taylor had thought to leave him a message on his cell phone telling him which room it was since he'd forgotten to get that important piece of information when he'd left the group. He still didn't think he needed to have the doctor look at him, but figured it wasn't worth arguing with the others about it.

Ryan found his steps getting slower and slower and he approached Kelsi's room, suddenly feeling a little anxious at the thought of seeing Kelsi again. He was still so confused about everything that had happened and was still having a hard time figuring out how he wanted to proceed. Kelsi had given him a lot to think about and it was imperative that they talk as soon as possible, which wouldn't be until sometime after the doctor left. He sighed as he lightly knocked on the door, hoping that Kelsi looked better than she had the last time he'd seen her.

"Hey man," Troy said as he opened the door and moved aside to let Ryan in. "The doctor hasn't gotten here yet. He just called to say he was stuck in traffic, but that he'd be here as soon as he could."

"Hey." Ryan frowned as he scanned the room, noting that Kelsi was nowhere to be found. "Where's Kelsi?"

"In the bathroom. She wanted to take a shower and get changed," Troy replied. "Gabriella's in there helping since she was worried about Kelsi slipping and hurting herself."

"Oh."

"So…" Troy began slowly. "That was some fight, huh?"

"It was pretty intense," Ryan admitted.

"Yeah," Troy nodded. "You look all right though," he offered after a couple of awkward moments had passed. "I mean, you look like you've been in a bad fight, but you seem to be getting around pretty good."

"Yeah, I'm okay," Ryan agreed. "I've felt better, but…" He trailed off as the bathroom door opened.

"Everything okay?" Troy asked.

"Just peachy," was Kelsi's response as she slowly made her way out of the bathroom, holding onto Gabriella's arm for support.

"How's the ankle?" Troy asked.

"Still really hurting," Kelsi replied, wincing as she walked. "Along with every other part of me. I, oh," she trailed off, spotting Ryan for the first time. "I, um, I didn't see you there."

"Yeah," Ryan said softly, looking her over intently. "You look a little better," he said after a moment. It was true. It was obvious that she was still in a lot of pain, but at least she looked more normal now that she was cleaned up.

"So do you," she said quietly. "How do you feel?"

"I feel okay," he said lightly. "Better than you do, I bet."

"I don't know about that," she shook her head as she sat down on the edge of her bed. "You're the one that got in the fight. He got in some pretty hard hits," she continued, looking concerned, though her eyes widened a second later. "You, um, you gave some really hard ones too, of course," she added quickly, worried that she'd offended him somehow. "But still…"

"Yeah, well I'm not the one who was thrown into a wall," he pointed out. "You hit the ground pretty hard too. What were you thinking jumping on that guy like that, anyway?"

"He was going to hurt you," she frowned. "He was going to hurt you when you weren't going to be able to defend yourself. I…I had to give you time to recover…especially since it's my fault you got in the fight in the first place."

"Hey, what happened wasn't your fault," Ryan said sharply. "It was his."

"I never should've taken that walk," she sighed.

"You should've been able to take a walk without getting attacked," he countered. "Especially considering that it was in the broad daylight. You are not allowed to blame yourself for this, Kelsi. I won't let you."

"Well…I'm still sorry that you got hurt," she said, taken aback by the passion that had crept into his tone while he talked.

"I'm sorry that you got hurt too," he said softly, feeling his breath catch in his throat as their eyes met and held. He had the sudden urge to go sit beside her and pull her into his arms to try to soothe away her pain, but he resisted, knowing that doing so would only complicate things between them. Ryan chose to sit down in a nearby chair instead, though he kept his gaze trained on hers, not wanting to break the contact just yet.

In the meantime Gabriella found herself struggling to suppress the smirk that was threatening to appear on her face as her gaze flickered between Ryan and Kelsi, inadvertently taking a step closer to Troy. "Do you see what I see?" she asked him, taking care to keep her voice soft enough that the other two couldn't hear her.

"And what's that?" he asked, though there was a knowing smile on his face.

"Look at how they're looking at each other," she smiled. "If that's not love, I don't what is." Her eyes lit up as she looked at her future husband. "Troy."

"Gabriella," he said, his smile turning into a smirk as he noticed the mischievous twinkle in her eyes.

"You know what I think?" she asked, going on before he had a chance to respond. "I think that we have a job to do this week."

"Well of course we do, silly," he chuckled. "We have to get married."

"Okay, so we have _two _jobs," she corrected, rolling her eyes at him. "Getting married, yes, that's one of them."

"And the other one?" he wanted to know, reaching up to tenderly tuck a lock of her hair behind her ear.

"We get those two back together," she replied, nodding her head towards Ryan and Kelsi. "Zeke and Sharpay too," she added as an afterthought. "We'll get everyone else to help out. What do you think?" she asked, sounding excited now.

"I think…" he said slowly, making a show out of pretending to think it over. "I think that's a great idea." His smirk returned as he glanced at his friends. "Those four don't stand a chance," he decided.

"That they don't, Wildcat," Gabriella grinned, turning back to face Ryan and Kelsi. "That they don't."

* * *

Sharpay had never considered herself to be an apprehensive person by any means. She had been involved in dozens of productions and had never experienced a drop of stage fright. She could go onstage in front of a packed house by herself and not feel a twinge of fear or nerves. In many ways, the stage was her home. It was one of the only places where she felt completely at ease. She might experience bouts of insecurity in other areas of her life, but never in regards to her talent.

She'd always prided herself on that fact, knowing how many people struggled with performing in front of crowds. It was something that had always seemed to give her an edge over other performers, a way of psyching them out, so to speak. Whereas they'd be on the verge of a mental breakdown, Sharpay would be the picture of confidence. They'd be trying not to throw up and she'd be dying to get onstage so she could bask in the attention from the audience.

No, Sharpay had never had a problem being the center of attention, whether she was onstage or off. And not only did she not have a problem with it, she loved to seek it out. The spotlight was where she thrived, after all. She was at her most content when all eyes were on her.

A small frown appeared on her face at the thought, knowing that it wasn't entirely true. She was happy when people were completely focused on her, but was at her most content when she was with Zeke. He was her rock, the one place she could run to and feel entirely safe. He kept her grounded and he loved her completely – loved all of her, even the parts that weren't worthy of his love. He was her everything, pure and simple. That had been true three years ago when she'd left him and it was true now.

Of course things were much more complicated than they'd been three years ago and she only had herself to blame. Leaving him had been a stupid decision, the stupidest one she'd ever made. She'd admitted as much to Ryan and Taylor earlier. She should have done what Taylor said she should have – that is, talk to Zeke about how she was feeling. If she had, they would've been married by now. Married and happy, knowing that they were building a life with the person they loved the most in the whole world.

That's how it should've been. There was no doubt in Sharpay's mind over that fact. She should've come to Las Vegas as a Baylor, not as an Evans. But she hadn't and that was what had brought her to her current predicament. She sighed as she thought back to her original train of thought which was that she did not consider herself to be an apprehensive person by any means. At least she hadn't until this precise moment.

She had gone back up to her hotel room to wait for Zeke, asking Taylor if she could tell him where she was. She'd debated where she and Zeke should talk and one of their rooms seemed like the safest bet. They'd be away from everyone else that way and it'd be easier for them to talk. They wouldn't have to worry about any distractions up there and that was a good thing because this was going to be an important discussion. One that had the potential to change both of their lives. One that they'd needed to have for a while now and one Sharpay had convinced herself she was ready for in the time it took for her to get back to her hotel room.

Of course, that had been a few minutes ago. Sharpay had no idea where her confidence had flown off to, but it had pretty much completely disappeared. She found herself alternating between anxiously drumming her nails on the desk in her room and getting up to either pace or fiddle with her hair. She was without question _not_ ready for this discussion, no matter what she'd told herself earlier. How was she supposed to get Zeke to understand what had made her leave all those years ago? Where was she supposed to start? What was she going to do if she couldn't get him to see where she was coming from? If he couldn't find it in his heart to forgive her?

The knock on the door practically made her jump out of her skin. "Coming!" she yelped, alarmed at the sound of her own voice. What was happening to her? "Get a grip, Sharpay," she muttered to herself as she walked to the door. "You are Sharpay Evans for God's sake. And Sharpay Evans does _not_ get nervous." She paused as she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, not recognizing the nervous person looking back at her. She shook her head and squared her shoulders as she reached the door and peered out the peephole, feeling her heart skip a beat or two at the sight of Zeke on the other side. She lifted an uncharacteristically trembling hand to the doorknob and slowly opened it. "Hi Zeke." The words came out on a whisper, surprising them both.

"Hi Sharpay," he said calmly, studying her intently. "May I come in?"

"Oh, um, of course," she stammered, moving aside to make room and wondering again what in the world was wrong with her. It was like she had somehow morphed from the confident person that she was and turned into…into Kelsi, she thought with a wince.

"Are you okay?" Zeke asked.

"I'm not sure," she admitted with a frown. "I think so. Maybe. Yes. Yes, I am."

"You're rambling," he said, sounded amazed.

"I am not," she argued, another wince appeared on her face as he slowly lifted an eyebrow at her. "I am," she corrected with a sigh. "You'll have to forgive me, Zeke. I seem to have lost my backbone."

"Sharpay Evans without a backbone?" he smirked. "Talk about things that don't add up."

"Tell me about it," she responded. "I guess…I guess I'm just feeling a little nervous. It's been so long since we've talked."

"It has," he agreed.

"I…I don't where to begin," she admitted.

"How about at the beginning?" he suggested. Zeke had debated how he wanted to start this discussion with Sharpay on his way to her room and he'd decided that he may as well get straight to the point. No sense in wasting time beating around the bush. They'd lost too much time already. "What happened, Sharpay? Why'd you leave?"

"Right to the point, huh? Good," she nodded. "That makes it easier. Maybe…maybe we should sit."

"Okay," he agreed, keeping his eyes on her while they say down.

"The beginning." Sharpay took a deep breath and let it out on a long sigh. "I guess it all started with Sarah."

"Sarah?" Zeke asked, puzzled. "Sarah who?"

"Henderson," Sharpay answered softly.

"Sarah Henderson," he repeated, surprise coloring his voice now. "What does she have to do with anything?" His eyes lit up in momentary panic at the thought that entered his mind a second later. "Wait a second," he began. "You don't think…" He shook his head. "You don't think anything happened between me and her, do you? Because-"

"No," she interrupted quickly. "I know nothing happened, Zeke. You're not a cheater and Sarah's not the type of girl who'd go after someone's boyfriend."

"Okay, good," he responded, relieved. "But I'm confused. If you know nothing happened then why…" he trailed off.

"Sarah Henderson is probably one of the nicest people on the planet," Sharpay said quietly. "She's kind and compassionate and selfless. She's always putting other people first. She's…she's a good person."

"She is," he agreed cautiously.

"She is," Sharpay echoed. "Do you remember the day you proposed?" she asked a few moments later.

"Of course," he nodded. "I remember that day like it was yesterday."

"I saw you," she informed him. "You and Sarah, I mean. I stopped by the soup kitchen and saw the two of you working on something together and talking."

"You did? I don't remember seeing you there," he frowned.

"I didn't come in once I saw you two," she told him. "I couldn't."

"Why not?" he pressed.

"Because the two of you looked so good together," she surprised him by saying. "Like you belonged together. Like you _were_ together. You just…you looked good together," she repeated.

"So…you see us together and you think we look good together," he paraphrased, feeling even more confused. "And that makes you want to leave me?"

"You think I _wanted_ to leave you?" she asked, a sad chuckle escaping at the thought. "Oh Zeke," she sighed. "I didn't leave because I wanted to, I left because…"

"Because why?" he pressed, his gaze intense as he impatiently waited for her to continued. "Because why?" he repeated the question when she didn't respond, his voice growing louder in frustration. "Come on, just spit it out already! If you didn't want to leave me, why did you? Huh? Why'd you walk away from everything we had together if you didn't want to? Why? Why would you-"

"Because I didn't think I deserved you!" she exclaimed, surprising him into silence. "Actually no, scratch that. I _knew_ I didn't deserve you! I never did."

"What…you…" Zeke's mouth opened and closed a few times as he tried to wrap his mind around what she'd just said. "What are you talking about?" he managed finally.

"You're such a good person, Zeke. Sweet, kind, funny, smart, loyal, honorable," she began, shaking her head in a kind of wonder as she studied him. "You're a good man. The kind of man that all other men should look up to, the kind of man…" she trailed off again, her face twisting in pain. Tears filled her eyes as she continued. "The kind of man who deserves a good woman," she whispered.

"I had one." He spoke in a whisper as well, stricken by the level of sorrow in her voice. The urge to get to his feet and gather her up in his arms to comfort her rose up so fast and strong that he had to grip onto the armrests of his chair to remain seated.

"No, you didn't," she countered, lowering her gaze to the floor as she went on. "You had me."

"Exactly," he agreed. "I had you."

"You deserved better than me," she said, so quietly that he just barely heard her.

"Better than you?" He was aghast; he had thought about how their conversation would go, wondering what she would tell him and had come up with a few scenarios in his mind…none of which were even close to the way things were playing out. He'd wondered if she'd tell him that she thought she deserved someone better than him, not the other way around. Everything he thought he knew about their relationship suddenly seemed wrong as he gaped at her, struggling to understand and not quite succeeding. "Better than _you_?"

"Our relationship never really made sense," she mused, sounding partially lost in thought. "There you were, one of the sweetest guys at our school and there I was." A chuckle devoid of any humor slipped out. "The ice queen herself. I was so horrible." The last part was said more to herself than him and so she completely missed the frown that appeared on his face at her words. "I was mean and selfish, completely full of myself and manipulative. I was petty and superficial and I treated you so badly. So so badly."

Sharpay sighed sadly, lifting her eyes to meet his once more. "I'm so sorry, Zeke. I'm so sorry for how I treated you. I was…I was horrible to just about everyone, but…but I think I was the worst to you. You were…you were so sweet, so devoted…and a cookie making god," she added with a small smile. "You'd let me blow you off and come back the next day with a fresh treat, a warm smile. You never gave up on me and I couldn't be bothered to so much as look you in the eye most days. You deserved better than that." She shook her head. "I'm so sorry."

"You were…" he pursed his lips, trying to think of the best word to use. "You were difficult. A challenge. Not an easy person to get to know, I'll give you that. You did some pretty horrible things," he said matter-of-factly. "But that doesn't mean you were a horrible person."

"How can you say that?" she asked, sounding incredulous.

"Because it's the truth," he said simply. "You were guarded; it was easier for you to hide behind that ice queen façade rather than let people get to know the real you. Harder for people to hurt you that way. You were so scared to let people get close to you because than they'd have the power to hurt you. So you protected yourself by pushing everyone away." He leveled his gaze on hers. "A lot of people never bothered to look past the façade to see the real you, but I did. You never fooled me for a second."

"I didn't?" She sounded so amazed that a laugh escaped before he could stop it.

"Not for a second," he repeated.

"What about the first time we met?" she challenged, her eyebrow lifting when he laughed again.

"Met? It wasn't so much a meeting as a full on collision," he grinned, able to picture the moment like it'd just happened the day before. "I remember I was flipping through a notebook doing some last minute cramming for my history test and not paying any attention to where I was going."

"And I was too busy texting Ryan on my cell phone to pay any attention to where _I_ was going," she jumped in, a wry smile spreading across her face as another part of the memory floated into her mind. "You wanna hear something ironic? I was mad because me and Ryan's rehearsal pianist wouldn't come in during our free period to help us practice, so I was telling…ordering," she corrected, "Ryan to go find that short girl I caught playing the piano in the music room the week before and sweet talk her into helping us."

"Kelsi?" Zeke asked, a knowing smirk on his face.

"Kelsi," Sharpay confirmed. "I met her before Ryan did, you know. I was the one who introduced them." She scoffed. "Too bad I didn't know how things would end up with them or I wouldn't have bothered."

"They might've ended up together anyway," Zeke said, choosing his words carefully. "There's no way of knowing what would've happened." He gave her a pointed look. "But then again, I didn't come up here to talk about Ryan and Kelsi. I came up here to talk about us. So the morning we met…" he began, gesturing for her to continue.

"Neither one of us was paying attention," she said quietly. "And we both came around that corner from opposite sides and bam."

"Full on collision," he chuckled. "Imagine my surprise when I looked down to find a beautiful blonde girl wearing more pink than I've ever seen anyone wear before…" he paused, smirking at her. "I opened my mouth to apologize, but before I could, you came at me with-"

"Watch wear you're going, tall person!" she interjected.

"Yep," he nodded. "And then you began yelling at me about not paying attention and how I could've killed you."

"I was awful," she winced.

"Don't worry about it," he said, waving his hand in front of him. "I think I only heard every fourth word or so. I was too busy getting lost in the whirlwind that was Sharpay Evans. I think I was amazed."

"Amazed?" she asked, sounding skeptical. "About what?"

"The amount of passion you could put into yelling at someone you'd just met," he chuckled again. "I'd never seen anything like it. You walked away in a huff and I stood there in a daze for a few seconds knowing that something incredible had just happened and that I would never be the same. I don't know what it was exactly, but I just knew things were different. I knew I had to learn more about you."

"What, you like it when strange girls yell at you?" she inquired.

"It's like I said. I'd never seen anything like that before. I'd never seen anyone like that before. You fascinated me. It's kind of like passing a bad car accident on the road. You know it's awful and morbid to look, but you just can't help yourself."

"I…don't know how to respond to that," she said honestly. "I'm like a bad car accident?" The corners of her lips lifted up into a small, sad smile. "I guess that's about right."

"Bad analogy," he said quickly. "It's just…after that first meeting, I knew I had to get to know you. Not that you made that easy."

"Of course not," she rolled her eyes. "I'd always either snap at you or ignore you entirely."

"Yeah," he agreed. "I was never all that successful when I tried to talk to you. It made things harder for me, but I didn't mind…well, not too much," he admitted. "I decided that if I couldn't talk to you, then I could still watch you. Try to figure out what made you tick. The more I watched you, the more I liked you." He made a face. "And that sounds really, really creepy. I wasn't stalking you or anything, I promise."

"Why cookies?" she asked softly.

"What?"

"Why'd you start giving me cookies?" she wanted to know.

"Had to get you to warm up to me somehow, didn't I?" he asked, flashing her a quick smile. "I remember being behind you in the cafeteria line, you know, after I'd cut in front of a lot of other people," he winked at her as he continued, "and you seemed like you had such a sweet tooth. I was already interested in baking so I figured it wouldn't hurt to give you some of my creations and see if it helped me at all." He lifted an eyebrow at her. "And it did, didn't it?"

"It did," she acknowledged.

"And the rest is history," he finished. "You finally started opening up to me and we eventually started dating." He gave her another smile, though this one was tinged with sadness. "We were good together."

"No we weren't," she countered, lifting her hand up at the slight wave of hurt that washed over his face. "We were _great_ together," she corrected softly. "You were…you were the greatest thing that had ever happened to me, Zeke. Nothing else even compares. You…your love…it changed me, it helped break down all the walls I'd put up around myself and it helped me become a better person. Better than I ever could've been without it." Her voice softened as she continued, her features etched with sadness. "But still not good enough. I didn't deserve you. I _don't_ deserve you."

"You deserve someone good and sweet like Sarah, someone who is just as good as you are. At least that's what I believed." Sharpay shook her head. "I knew that you'd never let me go without a fight. You'd worked too hard to get me in the first place. Once you had me, I knew there was no way you ever would've let me go."

"So you left," he said quietly.

"I left," she confirmed. "You'd invested way too much time in me and you were ready to spend the rest of your life with me and I just…I couldn't do that to you. I couldn't condemn you to a lifetime with me when there were better women out there. Women like Sarah."

"If I'd wanted a woman like Sarah, I'd of have one," he interjected. "But I didn't want a woman like her. I wanted you." He locked his eyes on hers. "Only you."

"I know that," she responded. "Believe me, I know that. That's part of the reason why I didn't tell you I was going. Why I didn't tell _anyone_ I was going. I had to make myself disappear so you wouldn't be able to find me. I figured that you'd eventually give up on me that way. Move on with your life, meet a new girl, a new _nice_ girl and fall in love with her and marry her. That was my plan." She lifted an eyebrow. "Though I guess you didn't get the memo."

"Hey, once a Baylor man falls in love with a woman, that's it," he shrugged. "I worked too hard to make you mine. I knew how good we were together, how perfect we were for each other. And don't sit there and tell me that you didn't deserve me because that's crap."

"It's how I felt," she replied. "We could sit here and argue that point, but it doesn't really matter. What does matter is that I really thought I was doing what was best for you. I thought you'd be better off without me."

"You thought wrong," he said simply. "I loved you, damn it, and I was determined to get you back, no matter how long it took." It was his turn to lift an eyebrow. "I have to give you some credit. When you set your mind to something, you do it full out. You wanted to disappear and you did."

"It wasn't easy," she admitted. "Leaving you, doing whatever I could to make sure you couldn't find me…it wasn't easy. You don't know how many times I wanted to give up and go back to you."

"You should've. It would've saved me a lot of money in gas and airfare," he quipped. "And then you wouldn't of had to try to make me jealous by dancing with all of those guys last night," he added, with a smirk.

"You…you know I was trying to make you jealous?" Sharpay asked, her eyes widening in surprise.

"Ryan told me when we talked earlier," Zeke informed her. "I don't know if I should be flattered or pissed off about it," he added honestly. "On one hand, I can't believe that you'd go through all of that just to get to me and on the other, I really don't like watching a bunch of drunken idiots dancing with the woman I love."

"You still love me," she said slowly.

"No, princess, I've chased you for the past three years because I don't care about you," he teased, unable to help himself and rewarded when she let out a soft giggle. "Of course I still love you." He gave her a pointed look. "But then again, you never thought I didn't, now did you?"

"Of course not," she said quietly. "That was never our problem."

"Tell me something," he began. "You leave me because you don't think you deserve me, which, if I didn't make this clear earlier, is completely insane." He shook his head. "But you leave me and spend the past three years making sure I couldn't find you because you thought I'd eventually lose interest and move on." He lifted his eyebrow again. "Which is also completely insane. But you go through all of that only to come here with the intent of making me jealous." He gave her an odd look. "I don't get it."

"Then let me explain. Yes, I left because I thought I didn't deserve you and that was why I kept running…at least that was my motivation in the beginning. But something changed," she told him. "See, I realized something while I was moving around."

"And what's that?" he pressed, anxious for her to continue.

"I may not have deserved you, but that didn't change the way that I loved you. The way that I _love_ you. Sometime along the way I decided that there might be better women than me out there, some of which might even be good for you in ways that I'm not. But the fact of the matter is that those women, regardless of how good for you they may be…those women could never love you the way I do. No other woman could _ever_ love you the way I do," she said, passion creeping its way into her voice as she spoke. "So I came to a new decision. I decided that I didn't want you to move on and marry some other girl. I wanted you to be with me."

"So why didn't you just come back to me?" he interrupted, trying to ignore the way his heart had begun to leap in his chest at her words. "It would've been easier than running."

"It would have," she agreed. "The thought of just going back to you occurred to me, more than once, in fact. But that would've been too simple. I knew I'd broken your heart by leaving…" she trailed off, her thoughts temporarily pulling her in a new direction. "I'm so sorry I did that, Zeke. I never should've left you. It was…it was the dumbest thing I've ever done. I never wanted to hurt you once we got together, but I did and I didn't just hurt you, I almost destroyed you. I don't know how I can ever make it up to you, but I'll do whatever it takes. Even if it takes me a lifetime."

"That's all I ever wanted," he said absently. "A lifetime with you." He shook his head and waved his hand in front of his face. "You knew you'd broken my heart by leaving…what were you going to say after that?"

"I knew I'd broken your heart by leaving," she repeated, forcing herself to go back to what she'd started to say. "So…so I decided that I had to make my leaving count somehow."

"What do you mean?" he asked, intrigued.

"I've told you I left because I didn't think I deserved you so…so I decided that I had to change. I had to do something to make myself a better person than I was; to make myself more worthy of your love. I thought…I thought it was the least I could do. I thought…I thought that if I could change, if I could make myself worthy, if I could become a better person, I thought…I thought it might help make up for my leaving in the first place."

Her gaze had dropped when she'd been speaking, but now she lifted her eyes to meet him and he was surprised to see them shining with tears. "I had to make it count," she whispered. "I had to make something good come from the awful thing I'd done by leaving you. It was…it was the least I could do."

"You…" Zeke trailed off, feeling his heart doing funny things in his chest while he studied her and tried to wrap his mind around this newest revelation. "I don't know what to say," he said after a long moment. "I just…you…you wanted to become a better person…" He shook his head in wonder. "You wanted to become a better person _for me_."

"Yes," she whispered.

"You…you make it so hard to get to know you. You push me away for years before finally giving me a chance. You become the most amazing girlfriend a guy could ever want and you end up leaving me a few years later because you think you don't deserve me." He let out a disbelieving huff. "You…you decide that no one could ever love me better than you do so…so you commit yourself to becoming a better person in an attempt to become more worthy of me." Another huff of disbelief. "You are probably the most amazing woman I've ever met. I've spent years studying you, learning everything I could about you and you still find ways to surprise me. I just…I don't know what to say. I don't know if I want to pull you in my arms to kiss or wrap my hands around your neck to strangle you. Why must you make things so complicated?"

"I'm an Evans," she offered weakly.

"You're an Evans." The laugh escaped before he could stop it. "That's the best answer you can give me?" Another laugh. "The crazy thing is that that answer actually makes sense. You're an Evans."

"An Evans who is in love with you," she added, so softly that he almost missed it. "We're complicated enough as is, you know. But once you get our hearts involved, forget it. I guess…I guess we're all a little crazy. We don't seem to think the same way other people do. Anyone else would've gone back to you." She paused. "Anyone else would've talked to you instead of running away."

"Ah yeah, talking," he nodded. "Just think…if we'd only done some of that, we could've avoided this entire situation. But then again," he continued with a smirk, "you wouldn't be the women I love if you didn't make things difficult for me, now would you?"

"I guess not," she said with a slight chuckle. "Zeke?" she asked after a couple of moments had passed.

"Yes?"

"I know that we can't just go back to the way things were. It would…it would take some time. We still have some things to talk about and we…we have to work to regain the trust we lost. The trust I destroyed," she corrected herself. "It'd be complicated and a little messy, but…but do you think that we could…"

"You're rambling again," he pointed out softly. "Just spit it out."

"Do you think there's hope for us?" she asked bluntly.

"Oh Sharpay," he said slowly, his lips turning up in a small smile. "If I didn't think there was any hope for us than I wouldn't be here. I would've have spent the past three years looking for you if I didn't think there was hope. I wouldn't have come here with the intention of having you back by the end of the week if there wasn't hope." Zeke felt his breath catch in his throat as he watched her lip tremble; showing off a layer of vulnerability that she rarely let anyone see. His voice grew more tender as he continued. "We're Zeke and Sharpay. There's always hope for us."

"Oh Zeke." The words came out on a soft sob.

"I just have two questions," he informed her. "The first…yes, we do have some work to do. We can't just expect things to go back to normal; that'd be ridiculous. We're off to a good start, but we're not there yet. So I propose that we make this a new beginning in every meaning of the word. I want us to go out on a date. Now, I know we have to have dinner with the rest of our friends tonight, but I think we need some time alone with no one else around to bother us. So Sharpay…would you do me the honor of having breakfast with me tomorrow morning?"

"I'd love to," she answered, a bright smile on her face, even as tears continued to roll down her cheeks.

"Awesome." He returned her smile with another one of his before his expression turned curious. "Now…my second question."

"Okay."

"You said that you decided that you had to become a better person before you came back to me, so I have to know. What the heck have you been up to, Sharpay?"

"Well...it's kind of a long story…"


End file.
